had been of his Party and was then a Companion of his Fortune at the end of their repast regarding him with a visage that breathed nought but Death Petreius said he 't is fit we dye to preserve our liberty for if we stay on earth but a few days we shall have no power left to put by the shame is prepared us I demand no other proof of thy affection but Death from thy hands and as my Fortune is now stated I cannot receive a greater from thy Friendship Here stab this breast pursu'd he presenting his naked bosom pierce this heart which the Arms of our Enemies have unluckily spared and make a KING fall by thy friendly hand whose courage scorned to bow under the fortune of a puissant Enemy He mingled these words with some others so pressing that Petreius could not refuse the fatal courtesie but without farther delay ran him through with his own sword the King not so much as turning his eye aside nor letting fall the least action unbecomming the grandeur of his spirit Petreius when he had seen him breath his last turned the same point against his own breast and throwing himself upon it with all his force fell dead at his feet thus were the festival Ornaments discoloured with Royal blood and thus did this great King catch up the shield of of death to defend himself from ignominy A few days after the victorious Caesar rendered himself Master of both the Realms and with them of the Queen his spouses liberty whom he designed for one of the principal Ornaments of his Triumph she was gone some months with child when the King her Husband lost his life and was brought to bed of the Prince my Master two days after her arrival at Rome whither Caesar sent her two months before he made his triumphal entry Thus was my Prince begotten free and the Son of a King but born a slave and between his Conception and Birth happen'd that deplorable revolution of his Fortune Some days after his Birth he was carried along as one of the most remarkable Ornaments of Caesar's Triumph happy in his misfortune that as yet he understood not the shame they made him suffer being then of an age incapable of resenting the loss of his Crowns his brave Father or the death of the Queen his Mother who resigned her life a few days after she had disclosed the little Heir of her misfortunes to the World But there wanted not persons that took care of his bringing up for the great Caesar from whom the disastrous fate of his Parents had drawn some compassion caus'd him to be brought up at Rome in the garb of a Kings Son and bestowed such a particular care upon him that scarce any of his neerest kindred in that high swoln prosperity was trained to a braver Education I will yet say further and believe I shall not injure truth in affirming that the losses of his estate were in part repaired by the gallant Education he receiv'd among the Romans wherein that tender age escaping the impression of the Affrican customs and the Company of such persons which falling far short of the Romans politeness might have given him a taste of the Barbarian his excellent nature contributed such marvellous assistance to the care of those that were ordained to form him that before his age could promise it he became as accomplished in all requisites of a Prince as wish could fancy and rarely skil'd in every undertaking to which his vertuous inclination carried him In his earliest Infancy Caesar would often cause him to be brought into his presence and observing that someehing Majestick and Heroical was already risen with that morning of his excellent beauty he let him get ground in his affections to that degree as one day he broke into an earnest protestation that if the little Juba for at his birth they gave him his Father's name seconded those hopes he had already begun he would restore him the Crowns of his Ancestors but he took special care to mould him to the Roman fashion and deface all such unpolished manners as his inclinations might possibly borrow from his Affrican blood Besides to fortifie the friendship he would have him bear to the Republick he gave him a Roman name and because he was brought up in the Martian Family illustrious among the Patricians and derived from the famous Coriolanus whose valour survived him in so glorious a reputation he would have the young Prince called by his name that the appellation of Juba which sounded harsh and barbarous to a Roman ear might be covered with that of Coriolanus In all likelyhood the affection and bounty of that great Dictator would not here have stopped and doubtless the Prince had gathered the fruits of those promises if Death had not robbed him of that Protector or rather that Father before he attained to his fourth year an age that hardly rendered him capable to dream of those hopes were given him That man the greatest that ever liv'd was murder'd in the Senate-house by the ingrateful conspiracy of those that his own generosity and nobleness had rais'd from their knees all the world knew it self interessed in the loss of him who had made himself Master of it with his Sword yet held it in so gentle a subjection After Caesar's death the little Coriolanus for so was always called wanted no protection for the Senate succeeding Caesar in his Patronage took up that care of him which his death had let fall and trained him up with the Sons of divers Kings that were Friends and Alleys to Rome without making the least difference in their Expence or Equipage though their Fathers had still their Crowns in possession Divers children of noble Exteaction and an equal age descended from the families of Roman Knights were placed in his Service of which number I was appointed one and as I was always brought up near his person so his affection did me the honour to take me nearest to his heart During those cruel and dismal disorders of my Country that bloody Civil War which revenge kindled for Caesars murder the prodigious effects of that horrible Triumvirat which overflowed Rome with the blood of her noblest Citizens and that famous contest betwixt Antony and Octavius Coesar the young Prince grew up with a success miraculous Never did Eye behold a youth of those years handle his Arms with so great a grace or perform any Bodily Exercise his Tutors taught him with a dexterity comparable to his his propension led him with so much advantage to the study of Sciences as he became so learnedly vers'd in Astrology and Philosophy so critically skilled in all kind of History as the World could scarce afford another to match him and for Eloquence that famous Orator that lost his life in the heat of the Triumvirat by the cruel command of Antony could hardly challenge preheminence nor had he qualities disproportioned to these rare endowments of body and mind so that
careless of all things Having had this account from Arsanes we suffered him to pursue his voyage and quitting our course towards Lybia made for Alexandria where after a dangerous voyage by reason of foul weather wherein we were like to have been lost I am at last safely arrived and as happily as I could have wish'd since I find my Daughter and with her Prince Artaban both in a condition to pass away your lives according to my wishes and inclinations and to go and satisfie the desires of the Parthians who impatiently expects you to put upon your heads the Crown of their Monarchs This was the closure of the Queens discourse and she had no sooner given over speaking but Artaban cast himself at her feet and embrac'd her knees with all the discoveries of the greatest and humblest acknowledgement which she could have expected from the meanest of her subjects The Queen embraced him as a Son and looking on him as the person who within a few days was to be King of Parthia she could not receive those submissions from him but forced him to rise and seat himself as before He obey'd her not till he had done the same homage to the Princess with greater expressions of love and respect then he had ever discovered before But though he saw her in countenance the marks of a joy she could not well dissemble yet was there not the least appearance of any in his and instead of entertaining with any excess of gladness the discovery of a happiness to which he aspired but with very doubtful hopes he continued in the same posture he was in before the Queen's discourse nay seemed rather to be somewhat less chearful Elisa and the Queen were not a little dissatisfied thereat insomuch that the Queen having a greater confidence then her Daughter upon that occasion asked him Whether he found any thing in the discourse she had entertained him with whence he might derive any sadness Artaban knew wll enough what had given the Queen occasion to put that question to him and making her answer with certain sighs which forc'd their way out Madam said he to her the Fortune you bring me tidings of is such as whereof there is not any among men nay not among the Gods lif may presume so highly can entertain the discovery with moderation but with all this I can conceive no other joy thereat then what might proceed from a pleasant Dream or rather being built upon a Foundation I shall my self presently shake I cannot rejoice thereat I might Madam said he to the Queen and I might Madam continued he addressing himself to the Princess suffer you to continue in an errour which for ought I perceive you are much satisfi'd in nay an errour which makes infinitely for my advantage But may it not please the Gods how great soever the Fortune may be whereto you would raise me that I should purchase it by a Cheat and may all my hopes be defeated with my life before I put any Trick upon my Princess If Artaban descended onely of Noble Bloud or rather if Britomarius whose Fortune consists in his Sword be worthy the glory to serve you dispose of his life and make his condition such as you desire it but if to merit the Honour you would do me I must be a Prince descended from Arsaces reserve it for some other whose Birth hath been happier than mine Not but that I feel something stirring in my heart as great as if I were a Prince of that Bloud but in fine Madam I must disclaim it Artanez is not my Father and I were too unworthy the Fortune you offer me should I be won to endeavour it by falshood and an unjust pretence These words of Artaban which he uttered with a courage wholly admirable struck a paleness into the Princess 's countenance and fill'd her heart with a sudden grief She cast her eyes on Artaban but with a look such as wherein he could not but observe her displeasure through her grief and presently after fastened them on the ground out of an astonishment that suffer'd her not to speak But the Queen was not in a like distraction and after she had a while looked very earnestly on him Artaban said she to him do you think the Present made you so inconsiderable that to avoid it you will disclaim a glorious birth and prefer the condition of a private person before that of a Prince of the Bloud of Arsaces together with Elisa and the Parthian Crown I prefer replies Artaban the Glory to serve Elisa before the bloud of the Gods and the Empire of the Universe but if that glory be reserv'd for a Prince descended from Arsaces it is not for the unfortunate Britomarius to pretend thereto Britomarius is the name I receiv'd at my birth under that name of Britomarius I passed away my younger years in the service of the Queen of Ethiopia under that name I first serv'd in the Wars under the King of Armenia and I have had the happiness to make it remarkable therein by some advantages I derived from my Sword and Fortune And I will discover to you in few words if you will give me leave how I came to that of Artaban which I have continu'd out of a respect to the honour I have had to serve the Princess Elisa under that name and which for that very reason I have preferr'd before that of Britomarius This discourse shall not take up many words and as I looked on this particular of my life as that of least importance so is it that onely which my Princess hath not had an account of After I had rendred some considerable services to the King of Armenia in the War he was engag'd in against the King of Media and which made the name of Britomarius known in his Armies and Dominions by some fortunate successes having not been able to disswade him from a cruelty he exercised on certain Princes I had taken prisoners and having dis-engag'd my self from him upon the opposition I would have made of a most injurious and ungrateful treatment I much dissatisfi'd quitted his service and left his Dominions with a design to follow the Wars elsewhere and fasten on the occasions of acquiring Fame which I preferred before all things With these thoughts I took my way having not many persons about me as being unwilling to make any advantage of the services I had done that cruel King when coming to the Frontiers between that Kingdome and Media and crossing a thick Wood I at first heard a confused noise accompany'd with certain cries and soon after coming up to see what the matter was I found several persons engaged in an unequal combat or rather in a base and villanous assassinate Divers men arm'd all over and well mounted had set upon a single man who without any other arms then his Sword was Hunting in the Wood with some Servants no better furnished than himself and being a person of much valour
it be so when you shall remember that we passed together the beginnings of your exile and that it was in the Court of the King of Armenia my Father where you took your first retreat you are then added Tyridates the Son of Artibasus King of Armenia I am replyed the Unknown Artaxus his eldest Son and the successor of his Crown At this knowledge of the King of Armenia Tyridates rising from his Chair to consider him a little nearer and remembring by little and little the ancient Ideas which time had blotted out of his memory Ah Sir said he what Fortune have I to have given you this poor retreat in exchange of that which I found in your house and how I am obliged to my Fortune since she hath given me-occasion to render some service to a King with whom in our youth I had framed so dear acquaintance It is a great comfort to me added the Armenian affectionately embracing him and I shall now with an entire confidence acquaint you with the particulars of my life and the secret of my affairs which have brought me hither and retain me here in this Country From these words they passed to an entertainment full of civility and mutual offers wherein the King of Armenia obliged Tyridates to give him a relation of his transactions which he did without speaking of his love which was the most important thing of his life and when Artaxus was satisfied in what he desired to know of him It is just said he I should make you a recital of those things which obliged me to quit my Kingdom to pass unknown into strange Countries I will do it after a short recapitulation of my life and though by some things which too just a resentment hath made me do possibly I expose my self to some reproach from a spirit whose inclinations have been all to sweetness yet I will pass over this difficulty to declare my self wholly to you and I will acquaint you with the pure truth without disguise or artifice The History of ARTAXUS King of ARMENIA I Will not speak to you at all concerning the first years of my life the beginnings whereof are passed away without any memorable event and you have learned the particulars of my education during the time you sojourned with us when flying from the cruelty of the King your Brother you took your first retreat at Artaxata You know the deplorable accident of our house and how by the cruel surprize of Anthony the unfortunate Artibasus together with the Prince Ariobarzanes my Brother and the two Princesses Arsinoe and Artemisa my Sisters was taken prisoner and led to Alexandria where after two years captivity he lost his head by the solicitation of the King of the Medes and the command of Cleopatra I was seventeen years of age when the King my Father was taken and during his Imprisomnent the Armenians having acknowledged me for their lawful Prince I employed all my power for the liberty of the King my Father and I forgot neither the solicitations of the Friends of Anthony to free him by fair means nor the way of arms wherein I joyned my self with Caesar his enemy to deliver him by open force In fine it was the will of the Gods and our unlucky destiny that this deplorable Prince against all manner of example and against all Law divine and humane died publickly by an infamous hand and left in his family not only grief and desolation but also too just subjects of eternal resentments for so bloody an injury and for an injury whereby the dignity of all Kings was unworthily violated I no sooner received the Crown which the Armenians presently after set upon my head but I received therewith most natural and most lawful desires of vengeance and upon the very day of my Coronation I engaged my self by a solemn oath to employ all my power even to the last drop of my blood to repair our disgrace and not to spare for any consideration either age or sex in any that should fall into my hands of the blood or alliance of Cleopatra or the King of the Medes A little after the Gods did in part revenge me and the satisfaction I received by the last misfortunes of Anthony and Cleopatra is so well known to you and to all the world that I need not speak of it to you The cruel persons perish by a just indignation of Heaven which sacrificed them to the Manes of the two Kings and to the complaints of so many persons upon whose ruine their power was established A little while after the wicked King of the Medes died miserably Tygranes his Son a young Prince of my age succeeded to his Crown and I saw my self without any other object of my revenge than the children of the horrible murtherers of Artibasus The misfortune of their Fathers which possibly might have satisfied me if it had happened unto them by my means alone being befallen them by other hands was not capable of contenting me and I continued in a most firm resolution to revenge my self of the outrage they had done me upon their children and whatsoever had any relation to them either of alliance or amity As for the children of Cleopatra I lost the means of my revenge by their retreat with Caesar and by the support they found with the Emperor the Senate and the people of Rome they had no Provinces left which I might waste with fire and sword for my satisfaction and to take it upon their persons I must force them in Rome it self and overturn the powers of the Empire and the Emperour which protected them with whom I had made an alliance very necessary for the conservation of my estate I was then constrained to turn my thoughts against the Son of the unfaithful Median and when I saw my self confirmed in my Kingdom I dreamed of nothing but War upon him and after very great preparations I entred into his Country with a considerable power where I began my vengeance by all manner of acts of hostility I will not entertain you with the particulars of this War the events thereof were a long time doubtful and two years past wherein much blood was shed on either side Fortune not absolutely declaring for either party The third year I had very great advantages which made me expect some part of that success I had desired I took Towns I gained Battels and the fourth year I hoped with all appearance for the entire ruine of my Enemy when the Gods fortified him with great succours and weakned me by the loss of single Man which was more hurtful to me than the loss of a good part of my Troops would have been The King of Cilicia and his Son with a great Army came into Media in defence of Tygranes their near Kinsman and a little after upon some effect of my revenge which I intended following my resolution upon all my Enemies having had some jar with Britomarus who at that time
instead of making any answer Cleopatra and Marcellus hearkened very attentively to him he reassumed the discourse in these terms The History of VOLUSIUS WE are satisfied by experience that both the remembrance of good turns and that of injuries have a different operation according to the different character of those souls where they are entertained and that as there are some minds wherein offences make but a very light impression much lighter then that which good offices might make in them so on the other side there are some in whom the greatest benefits cannot smother the least injuries or to say better who not much sensible of obligations said upon them have nevertheless eternal resentments for injuries That I have been worsted and disgraced by Prince Coriolanus I must attribute it meerly to his valour and my own unhappinesse and that I was nobly treated by him it was the effect of his pure generosity and yet the impression of the injury filled my soul in such manner that it leaves not any place for that which the generous entertainment should have had there and opposed the resentment it should have conceived thereof that so I might be the more absolutely hurried into contrary resolutions I doubt not Madam but you have heard how that having been several times defeated in the persons of my Lieutenants I was at last overthrown in my own and through the valour of the son of Juba having lost a battel which in all probability I should have gained I was by the same valour cast to the ground and taken prisoner You have also further understood how that after some daies imprisonment such as was sweetned by all the kind entertainments which I could have received from a brother or the best friend I had the same Prince whom by all manner of injuries I had obliged to treat me with cruelty forgetting all out of an admirable generosity and comforting me in my disgrace with the most obliging words could fall from man gave me my liberty without any condition loadâ—d me with presents of great value and furnished me with ships and men to bring me to Rome or any other place where I would my self It might in all probability be expected I should have been sensible of this treatment as much as I had been of my misfortune but having through my disgrace besides the fame I might have acquired in my former years lost the government of two great Kingdoms a very high fortune for a private man and the hope of finding again among the Romans an establishment comparable to that I had lost the grief I conceived thereat had so cankered my soul that I was not able to entertain those expressions of the goodnesse and clemency of the King of Mauritania with the least discover of gratitude However I pretended to be extreamly sensible thereof as I ought to have been of a favour I should not have expected and I received with my liberty the other effects of the magnificence of that Prince with those demonstrations which might well perswade him that I was not insensible thereof I went a-board with a soul half burst with grief and I carried with me into the sea an affliction grown so violent through the change of my fortune that there was nothing able to afford me any satisfaction And yet I am apt to imagine that my grief would have been satisfied in being only a torment to my self without producing any effect prejudicial to the fortune of my Conquerour if something of chance and the sollicitations of other persons had not furnished me with the occasions to do it and that at a time wherein my sufferings were not aggravated by any design of revenge The third day after my departure I was overtaken by a Vessel that came after me from Mauritania and he that was Commander of it being come aboard mine to give me a visit was known to me to be a person of very great quality among the Moors named Theocles whose Father had had under King Juba the Father of Coriolanus the greatest places in the Kingdom and the governments of greatest importance But it happening upon the death of King Juba that Theocles revolted to the Romans and sided very particularly with me as having not the least remainder of love for the Royal blood and that further he had expected till the issue of the war without declaring himself for his Prince as the greatest part of the Moors had done young Juba coming to the Throne had accordingly slighted him though he had not any way disobliged him nor taken away any thing he was possessed of and in the distribution of the Governments charges which he bestowed on those whom he thought most worthy and had expressed most affection towards him he conceived himself not at all engaged to prefer Theocles whose pretensions were great suitably to his quality and the high rank his Father had lived in before him Theocles thinking himself hardly dealt with and taking it very impatiently that his soveraigne should prefer other persons before him such indeed as were inferiour to him in birth but much more considerable than he by their services their fidelity to their Prince would needs leave Mauritania and lurk among the Enemies of his King and bring over with him among the Romans his resentments and desire of revenge So that having taken ship the same day that I departed the third after he comes up to me and coming out of his own Vessel into mine he gave me a visset making the greatest expressions he could of the affection he had for me Now this man being he that of all the Moores I had held the greatest correspondence with and his discontents being not unknown to me I was extreamly glad to meet with him and having understood from him that the resentments he had against his Prince were the occasion why he left the Country to follow me and to go along with me to Rome this consonancy of thoughts made me the more confident of him and raised in me a certain affection for him and engaged me to promise him all the friendship and assistance amongst the Romans that I could possibly help him to Thus resolved we continued our voyage together and in the same Vessel though we made his to follow us and that very day Theocles acquainted me at large with all I knew not that related to his affaires and disburthened himself of all that lay upon his heart but with so much aggravation and animosity against his Prince that though I were really his Enemy and well pleased to meet with a man that loved him not yet could I not in my Soul approve the procedure of his Subject and that one that had no ground given him of discontent However I dissembled the apprehension I had of it as thinking it not amiss to encourage him in that exasperation against a man I loved not and so mutually communicating our resentments one to another we kept on our voyage and having very
day divers of those that were about Augustus would have kept away had it not been out of a fear to disoblige the Emperour who had sent them particular invitations to that purpose Several Ladies both Roman and strangers accompanyed the Empress thither but most of the Princesses excused themselves and particularly the fair Cleopatra the attractive Elisa the Queen of Aethiopia Arsinoe Olympia Antonia and the Princess Julia who not condemning publickly what was by custome and the Emperours command authorised prevailed with him to leave them at liberty to pass away the Afternoon in other divertisements more suitable to their inclinations King Ptolomey Father to Queen Cleopatra had built an Amphitheatre in Alexandria taking his pattern from that of Rome he dying Queen Cleopatra and the unfortunate Anthony during the abode they made in that proud City had taken care for the absolute finishing and adorning of it and passing over three several years in the height of delights they had not omitted ought that any way heightened their enjoyments as endeavouring what lay in their power to raise a second Rome in Alexandria It afforded at this time at least whatever was requisit for the sights order being given that where-ever the Emperour went there should follow a certain number of Gladiators and savage beasts and all things subservient to his pleasures which was as punctually observed as what concerned things that were most necessary and this was generally look'd on as a punctilio of Roman magnificence The Emperour and the Empress and that noble Assembly of both Sexes whereof a great part attended them thither though not without some violence to their dispositions took up the seats assign'd them after which all plac'd themselves with convenience enough The entertainment began with the engagement of savage beasts which made excellent good sport There were Lions Panthers Tygres Leopards Bears and other kinds of dreadfull creatures which they match'd together with as much equality as they could as Tygres against Leopards Panthers against Bears and Lions against a sort of Bulls that were more then ordinarily furious and bred up to that exercise Hitherto the bloud which was spilt occasioned no great horrour But not long after they brought into the Arena those unmerciful Gladiators whose savage countenances and eyes full of blood did in a manner frighten the Spectators Their heads were covered with a little Head piece according to the Greek mode having to guard the left arm a large Buckler and in the right a crooked Cimitar the rest of their bodies was in a manner naked that they might fight with greater activity The engagement of the two first that came upon the Stage gave very much divertisement to those who were taken with that kind of sport and the weaker being fallen the Conquerour expected a second Adversary who was soon brought him and over whom after a very doubtfull combat he obtained a like Victory Having not received any wounds he would needs try his fortune once more and she prov'd so kind to him that with the same good successe he made a shift to dispatch the third The insolence he conceiv'd at these happy successes and the demonstration he had made of his valour oblig'd those who were the overseers of the exercises to bring against him a stouter Adversary then any of the former telling him by way of encouragement upon his running that new hazard that if he overcame the fourth he might hope as a recompence of his extraordinary valour that Caesar would set him at liberty Having flatter'd him into that expectation there comes up a man clad and armed as the former but one of the Spectators took much more notice of then any of the rest he was tall above the ordinary pitch of a free make of a very fair countenance though it was easily observable he was much altered from his wonted posture his light-flaxen hair being of great length and naturally of a gentle curle hung down over his shoulders for his age he câ—uld not at most be above two and twenty but besides the natural fierceness of his looks there seemed to be in his eyes upon that occasion so much choler and indignation as forced out of them all the mildness there might be in them upon any other and made him appear more terrible then he ordinarily was This young man on whom the whole Assembly cast their eyes but with sentiments much differeâ—t from those they had for the others discovering in his countenance the shame and indignation he felt within instead of lifting up his eyes to the Spectators fastened them on the ground and instead of making forwards to his Adversary with any confidence as they had done who had gone before him he sate him down on the lowest stair of the Arena and leaning his head on both his hands he continu'd there some time in the posture of a man o're burthen'd with sadness The Gladiatâ—r insolent upon his three victories and aspiring to the fourth comes up to him in a proud manner with eyes threatning nothing but bloud and several times challenged him to fight But the exasperated young man seeming to be little mov'd at his sollicitations and hardly turning his eyes towards him Go wretch said he to him go seek thy death from other hands then mine and force me not to dishonour my arms by so ignominious a victory The barbarous wretch scornfully smil'd at this discourse attributing it to the cowardize of his Adversary and perceiving that words could not move him he gave him over the Head-piece such a hearty blow as might well have awak'd him had he been sound asleep and threatned to kill him if he endeavoured not his own defence The young man's courage needed not that provocation so that his anger over-powering the shame he conceived at such a combat he rose up in fury and went towards that unworthy enemy in a posture that made him repent his confidence and struck a mortal coldness to his heart However he stood upon his guard a man resolute and well skill'd in that exercise but his Adversary gave him but little occasion to make use of his knowledge for perceiving that he held up his Buckler to ward off a blow which in all probability would have fallen upon his head and that his side lay all open he changed his resolution and by a cruel back-blow turning his Sword to the disarmed side he by a dreadfull thrust rippâ—d up his belly upon which he immediately fell down weltring in his bloud and bowels which came forth at that enormous wound There was a general shout among the Spectators at so unexpected a chance as being much troubled at an accident that had reduced to so wretched a condition a man that in all appearance seemed to have the greater advantages of the two He that was engaged against him next met with a fortune not much unlike that of the former losing at one single blow his sword with the arm that held it A third received his
and am well pleas'd to find my opinion not erroneous and lest you should believe her a mean Person that hath engaged so great a Prince to this long Narration I shall let you know before I give a more ample Relation of my life that I was born a Princess and am lawful Queen to one of the most puissant and Rich Empires of the world At these words Tyridates rose from his Chair and making an obeisance as low as the verge of her Robe demanded pardon for the faults his Ignorance had committed the fair Queen made him the same excuses and when they had allow'd some time for this Discourse Tyridates being return'd by the Queens intreaty to his Seat thus pursu'd his Story I was born under an unfortunate Planet and those which consulted the Stars at my Nativity did all find me menaced by most malicious influences especially the Mathematician Thrasillus who before his Youth had done blooming had acquir'd a great reputation in that Science and does at this day pass for one of the Worlds living Wonders he saw me in Armenia which I visited in one of my unfortunate Voyages after he had perused some lines in my Hand and Face and been inform'd of the day and hour of my Birth he foretold my Miseries should not end but with my Life that neither should long continue that I was threatned with a Death which should be neither Violent nor Natural but participating something of both In my first Childhood I was nourished in the King my Fathers Court with a great number of Brothers of which I was the youngest Pacorus and Phraates being 16 or 18 years elder than I. I was not 8 years old when my Brothers the Princes Pacorus and Labienus broke into the Territories of Asia that obeyed the Roman People defeated Saxa and swel'd with their lucky success ravaged Cilicia with a part of Syria it may be you have heard of the progress they have made in so short a time But the end was much different for the following year they were defeated and unluckily slain by the Roman Army commanded by Ventidius Lievtenant to Antonius After the death of Pacorus the Prince Phraates my Brother not much short of his Age being already married succeeded to the Helm of the Parthian affairs for the King our Father beginning to stoop under his years desired the Comforts of a Calm Age and to be releas'd of the Troubles which his Youth had sustain'd At my tenth year the King sent me to a little City upon our Frontier where usually the Parthian Royal Infants were educated and there the Prince Pacorus had learn'd part of his Exercises I took some pains at mine with a success fruitful enough to content my Tutors and after I had there imployed about four years time and began to think of being called home to my Fathers Court I understood it had been lately dyed with bloud and that bloud Royal newly drawn from my poor murthered Brothers this Act hath been too well known to all the world for the honour of Arsacides whose name to all ages will stand blotted with eternal Obloquy the cruel and ambitious Phraates unworthy of the Race and Memory of Arsaces desirous to make sure of that Authority which he feared his Brothers might one day find means to disturb caused them to be barbarously slain and the aged King our Father for making his grief appear in his just complaints and declaiming against his detestable Inhumanity in some terms that displeas'd provoked him to compleat the Horror of this Age and the Infamy of Royal Dignity by the addition of Parricide thus punishing no other Crime in his murder'd Father than the giving life to that Cut-throat of him and all his Off-spring I had shar'd the same Fate with my Brethren if he that was dispatch'd with the bloudy Commission to the City where I was had not been touched with the sense of vertue and a respect due to the Extraction of Kings In stead of executing Phraates command he sav'd me from his Cruelty and having inform'd me in few words of my Brother 's deplorable Murther for that of the King my Father was not yet perpetrated with the charge he had given him But Arsanes said he will sooner choose a thousand ways to perish than consent to dip his hands in his Masters Bloud let us save our selves Young Prince and evade the dire design of that savage Monster that would destroy us I intirely resigned my self up to his conduct and being followed by my Governour with five or six Servants that were willing to run my Fortune I got to Horse and though I had scarce attained to 14 years I exposed my self to the hardship of a painful Journey uncertain to save a life which I never yet could own with comfort Thus I first grew miserable and began at an early age to inure my self to Banishment and thus I have learn'd to hope no better than to finish my disgrace and my dayes together Arsanes first conducted me to the Court of Armenia where the King keeping no very friendly correspondence with Phraates and not willing in his behalf to violate the right of Nations received me into his protection In that Court I enjoyed some Tranquility Besides what the King allowed me Arsanes had brought a quantity of Jewels valued at about a thousand Talents which the King my Father to whom he disclos'd the design he had to save me had given him at his departure but Fortune soon shew'd how much my repose displeased her by the Calamities that befell the good King that had given me shelter who most unfortunately fell with all his Family into the hands of Antony her Enemy and was led bound to Queen Cleopatra who some time after with most barbarous Inhumanity caus'd his head to be struck off This Disaster which doubtless you have heard being important enough to spread over the whole Earth sent me to seek another Sanctuary which Arsanes would needs have to be the Court of Media betwixt whose King and the King Orodes there was some alliance there I found the retreat I desired and staid two or three years In that time there happened the ruine of Antony and Cleopatra the establishment of Augustus Caesar in the Roman Empire and many other Revolutions in which the whole World was concerned The cruel Phraates often sent to demand me of the Median King but could never dispose him to put me into his hands yet after he had made many Incursions upon his Territories he at last obtain'd his promise to protect me no longer At Praaspa the Capital City of Media I receiv'd his Orders to retire colour'd with divers excusive reasons which laid the blame upon Necessity From whence I went into Bithynia where I was received by the old King Pharnaces who for two years time treated me with Humanity enough but at last the baseness of his nature shew'd it self And indeed what faith could I hope for from a disloyal wretch that
Enemy that would destroy you and probably me too unless you vanquish it The Queen ended with these words which I heard with admiration and during the Discourse having ralli'd part of the confidence fear had scatter'd I made it serve me to answer these terms I am unworthy Madam of this favour you have given me and since I have merited your Displeasure 't is fit I should perish for the expiation rather than reserve my self for such a pity as you lately mentioned nor should my tongue ever hazard a second purchase of your indignation if that generous bounty which keeps company with the rest of your admirable Virtues did not allow me liberty to justifie my thoughts before you I will adventure then to tell you That Love as I apprehend it can neither be odious nor considerable to the person beloved but by the effects it produceth since of it self it is obliging and advantageous even to the Creatures least capable of apprehension if my passion had hatched any desire within me contrary to your virtue you might detest it as a Criminal as an Enemy that would poison the purity of your Soul But if it shall never inspire any other than such as shall instruct me to revere those admirable qualities the Gods have given you to interest my self in your fortune and sacrifice my self for your interests where will you find a just occasion to condemn it Is it a Crime for Tyridates to do the homage of a pure veneration to the divine Beauties and Perfections of Mariamne Is it a Crime for Tyridates to give up all his thoughts and dedicate his whole time to this employment And is it a Crime for Tyridates to long for an occasion with the price of his Bloud and Life to buy repose for Mariamne Madam if I have other Thoughts other Desires than these punish me with all the rigour your first Resentments inspir'd you with and let the Divine Powers joyn with yours to compleat me the most miserable of all men But if you find in my Affection all the Innocence you require in the Gods name Madam give me leave to carry it to my Tomb it is a necessity which will never endure to be dispenc'd with a Favour which I conjure you by the remembrance of all that you hold most dear to grant me And if the place were clear'd of witnesses that I might be permitted to ask it at your feet I would never rise from thence till I had obtain'd it These words and the vehemence wherewith I pronounced them wrought upon the generous and tender Spirit of the Queen and stirred up such Thoughts as took her some time before she could get them out into Answer at length she dispos'd her self to it and as she was beginning we found our selves at the end of an Alley where turning to continue our Walk we spied Salome and the rest of the Company so near us as the Queen saw she should not have time to discharge her heart and seeing her Company staid to let us pass before we quitted the place she thus reply'd Tyridates If your Thoughts be such as you say I can find no just cause of Offence but were they yet more innocent I must counsel you and do with all my Soul crave of you if it be possible to discard them from your Heart since they cannot be but ruinous to your Repose and mine She said no more and whether it were that she was willing to pursue this Discourse no further or that she suspected the malicious spirit of Salome might ptobably raise a bad comment upon our privacy she joyn'd with the rest of the Company and would separate no more From this day I dated a happy change in my condition and believed my estate much more advantagious than formerly The Queen though she disapproved my research and saw the continuance of it with displeasure yet she endured it with a most noble patience that would neither suffer her to banish nor hate a Prince who ador'd her with a Devotion so pure and unbyassed as nothing in it could be found fit to censure and never hoping to advance farther in her favour I learn'd to stay my content upon what I had This began to restore my spirits and recal my colour and if my Face still shew'd some discontent it had a root in the Queens miseries and not mine The condition of this great Princess was deplorable and though the King loved her with an almost enraged passion such was her aversion to all the endearing passages of his love as She took them for so many effects of Heavens indignation and though her virtuous resolution held her to the severe rules of her Duty her great courage could not be pliable to such caresses as she believ'd not due to the destroyer of her Family and a man yet crimson'd with the blood of her nearest Kindred these disdains sometimes raised such tempests in the King as he was often ready to poure them upon her as the last effects of his fury but then would Love step in to check Anger and taking the reins from those raging Transports which he had suffer'd to get uppermost render'd him more soft and submiss than ever and sent him to seek that with Prayers and Tears which he could not obtain with all his menaces We were one day in the Kings Chamber whither he had invited the Queen and they standing together at a Window after some discourse which we heard not he proffer'd to kiss her but the Queen whether she thought such condescention injurious to Modesty in so great a Company or in effect follow'd the motions of a just Hatred recoil'd some steps back and turn'd away her head with disdain enough The King was so gall'd with this Action especially appearing before so many witnesses as all the power he could make was not capable to hide his Passion and beholding the Queen with eyes sparkling with rage and a Countenance on which Fury had spread it self You are unworthy said he both of the Honour was offer'd you and all those that went before it Go get you out of my Chamber and if you do not remember the destiny of your Fathers remember that I promise to make you know him for your King whom you now scorn to acknowledge for your Husband The Queen return'd no other answer to these cruel words than a disdainfull look which more provok'd him and saluting the Company without change of countenance quitted the Chamber to retire to her own The Kings Choler which had often produced horrid effects made the whole Company tremble only in me it missed that influence for all the prudence and discretion I could make had much ado to hinder my discontent from breaking loose and it was the consideration I had for the Queen and not my self that bridled it Yet not in such a manner but when I saw the Queen retire I hasted after and offer'd my hand to lead her to her Lodging But as her spirit was less
your Servitors with some badge of your beauty I dare promise that there is not a person in this company able to dispute the prize of this day nor to carry away the Victory in any kind of combat I shall undertake for your service The words and behaviour of Britomarus were diversly receiv'd by the company many of the assistants censured them as inconsiderate and over-bold and some excused his Youth and imputed it to that true height of courage that had shewn it self in all his other actions of this number was the King himself who in stead of checking the young man's confidence witnessed that he approved it and commanded the Princess to bestow something on him Candace was ready to obey when my Prince who regarded Britomarus his action with thoughts very different from the rest and felt himself stung with Jealousie at rhe young mans hardy demand could not suffer the honour was intended him and conceiving the Princess's favour due to none but himself was loath that a person so much below him should carry away advantages which he durst not petition for and in the heat of this thought approaching the Princess and bending his knee before her I was not bold enough Madam said he to aspire to the grace Britomarus has demanded deeming my self unworthy of it as doubtless he is but if you must stoop to bestow it on one of us I hope I may believe that my hopes have the fairer title and will not come behind him in defending that glory in all our combats The Prince had no sooner spoke but his desire was granted and the King not permitting the Princess to reply Give the Prince Cleomedon a Favour said he Britomarus must not dispute his pretences and to satisfie him command some of your Maids to give him a present If these words seem'd cruel to Britomarus they were as pleasing to the Prince who receiving a Bracelet of Jewels from Candaces hands after he had kiss'd it with abundance of respect mounted on Horse-back with a transport of contentment and presently put himself in the head of those that were to begin the Courses Britomarus was call'd to receive a Gift offer'd him by Artimis one of the Princess Maids but he would not vouchsafe to look upon her but leaping on his Horse in a furious discontent convey'd himself out of the company without so much as entring the Lists The Courses began of which I shall pass particular Descriptions and be content to tell you that my Prince behav'd himself with so much active strength and bravery as he astonisht the whole Assembly eclips'd the repute of all the rest and confirm'd the King and Court in the pregnant hopes they had entertain'd of him after a great part of these Exercises were finish'd my Prince desirous to breath a while and withdrawing about one hundred paces from the prease to the fresh air he spied Britomarus leaning against a Tree and looking upon the manly sport his Companions made in the posture of a man much afflicted Though his carriage had displeased the Prince yet the rejection he had procur'd him and the esteem of his good qualities with the grief his looks confest at the affront was done him exchang'd his jealousie for pity In fine his excellent nature could not give him leave to see his affliction and himself the Author of it without endeavouring to give him the redress of some comfort with this resolution he softly gallops up to him spies his Face covered with tears and him in a condition sad enough to require a just compassion What Britomarus said he in tears Is it possible so great a spirit the marks of which we have acknowledged can descend to weep for so trivial a cause of displeasure Yes my Lord answered Britomarus I do weep and I should weep tears of bloud for the injustice of my Fortune that exposes me to miseries my courage cannot brook And have you no greater subjects of sorrow reply'd the Prince than those we know of No my Lord said Britomarus yet those are strong enough to drag me to my grave since Heaven in giving me courage has not given me a birth that will permit me to make use of it I am born my Lord with an heart as big as yours and possibly thoughts about it that look as high only Fortune has put a difference betwixt us which it may be Vertue intended not from this blind chance you daily take Commissions to wrong me and my condition ordains me to suffer it you have oft provoked me with shame and displeasure which though respect hath taught me to pocket without complaint my spirit could not learn to support it without sinking under sadness had I taken these injuries from a person with whom I might have measured my Sword wherewith I one day expect to reap some glory you should soon see this discontent dispell'd that clouds my brow but since I am abus'd by a Prince from whom I cannot hope that satisfaction I will turn my Sword against my own brest and punish the ambition there for lifting its head so high above my extraction While Britomarus spoke in this manner the young Prince heard him with admiration and thought he found something in his words that tasted of an unweighed irregular ambition yet he took notice of a Spirit so bravely daring as he could not disapprove it but withall clearly discovering his intentions and not willing to smother his own he answered him with a serious coldness I did believe Britomarus that our distance in quality did forbid all competition betwixt us that you need not have afflicted your self for some advantages I have seiz'd which to my thinking you ought not to dispute and this perchance has made me pass by that circumspection which I would preserve with my life not to injure persons of Courage I am sorry I have offended you and really to witness that I am so I will not seek excuses in my condition to refuse that satisfaction that may content you I will grant that to your Courage which your Birth could not suffer you to hope and possibly may make you know that Fortune has not put all the difference betwixt us Ah my Lord cry'd the young Britomarus ravish'd with Joy now you prove your self a perfect Prince poor Britomarus is a debtor to your Nobleness for the honour you profer My Lord I accept it with more gladness than I would do the gift of a Crown and will not otherwise use the Favour than to let you see that he that durst not demand it was not wholly unworthy of it and since you have offered it with so much generosity I cannot slight an occasion that proposes so glorious a remedy for the displeasures you have made me resent Let us go then reply'd the Prince beginning to be angry and if you desire this consolation let us fly the sight of such Persons that may hinder it our Arms are equal for I would be loath to use any advantage
which you want At these words he spurr'd away from the company and Britomarus hastily following with a fierce joy they soon lost the sight of the Assembly Yea they were loath to stay near it and the Prince unwilling to be interrupted in the first assay of his Manhood ran on about fifty or sixty Furlongs further till they came into a Valley where none could discover them There Caesario stop'd finding the place commodious and turning again towards Britomarus We will go no further said he let us give our Horses a little breath and then end our difference Britomarus his courage was so high flown as it would permit him to make no answer and suffering his Horse to breath a while he beheld the Prince with eyes that spoke nought but defiance The age of both was equal their stature little different and this the first time that either had worn Arms they had both Javelins in their right hands and Swords at their left their Horses were both good both chosen for the solemn exercise of that day scarce had they patience to give them leisure to breath when after a loud defiance they lanced their Javelins at one another with a force so impetuous as scarce was ever more fury shown by any of the rudest hands that ever were inur'd to the trade of War which they then but began to practise their Javelins were both shivered upon their Shields into a thousand pieces and the young Combatants passed by one another without the least staggering in their seats but they soon return'd with their drawn Swords as yet unused to this imployment and advancing them in the air with an action bravely menacing turning their Horses heads they flew the second time at one another more eagerly than before the first blows drew blood and the second made two deep wounds Britomarus was run through the left Arm and Caesario in the Thigh Never did two young Lions see their own bloud drop from the Hunters Spear with a rage more violent than that of my Prince and the ambitious Britomarus They equally breathed vengeance and victory and rushed together with so lavish a fury that if the Gods like them had forsook the care of their lives their practice in Arms had there begun and ended together They had each received another slight wound when my Prince coming close up laid hold on Britomarus his Arm and he not refusing to close with a like intention streightly ingaged him in his and thus locking one another in friendless embrace and putting spurs to their Horses they fell both to the Earth where they began to rowl o're each other with a most dreadful fury sometimes one was uppermost and then the other yet neither could keep the Mastery but in this strugling they lost so much bloud that at last both rising by a joynt consent they were scarce able to hold their Swords however in that staggering condition they fell to fresh blows and doubtless would have ended their Combate and possibly both their lives for as yet there appear'd no advantage on either side when we happily arriv'd to stop the mischief Their sudden departure had given us some outrage We were far from suspecting Britomarus his rashness but as faithfull care would seldom suffer me to keep my Eye from my Prince I had no sooner learn'd in what manner he departed but without stay mounting my Horse I ran after him with all the company I could engage and we came as I told you in a happy time to part these young Combatants whom we found in an estate that spake our arrival very necessary So soon as Caesario saw me he even sob'd with grief to see himself interrupted and suspecting not without likelihood that we would do Britomarus some outrage he put himself before him in a posture of defence and crying out to me as I first came in Father said he as you tender my life do not hurt Britomarus it was I that first assail'd him I compell'd him to defend himself and I will rather suffer death than him to he injur'd I will defend my self as well as I can said the fierce young man for it is not fit I should hold it of you having done my utmost to take away yours These generous and gallant words on both sides gave us new wonder in the mean time having taken care according to my Prince his desire that Britomarus should not suffer we hastily lighted from our Horses and ran to the two Combatants just as they were ready to fall to the ground with weakness I snatch'd my Prince in my Arms and wetted his face with my tears but whilst I was helping him on Horseback and getting up my self behind him he desired the same office might be done to Britomarus and not only content to take that care for him he made Neander get up in my place and sent me before to the King to beg the young man's Pardon and to protest that he would never come in his presence till he had granted it I obey'd his command but found it not so easie a task to reverse the Kings resolution who had absolutely designed Britomarus for punishment but at last he granted mercy upon condition that so soon as his wounds were healed he should leave the Court and never more return upon forfeit of his life In the mean time my Prince was conducted to his Lodgings presently put to bed and searched by Chirurgions his wounds were found not dangerous only the loss of bloud had done him the greatest miscief and after the application of some necessary Remedies they enjoyned him a silent repose without any disturbance till the next day In the mean time the bruit of his generous gallantry spread it self in a moment and the relation of Britomarus himself to his friends of the bravery and nobleness of his behaviour filled the whole Court with admiration Oh how gladly I drank up his Praises from every mouth how sweetly was my fear and displeasure vanquished that his wounds had given me the gentleness and grandeur of that first action made me gladly conclude him worthy to be what he was and though I blamed the Prince for that passage to prevent future hazards by the like yet I did it in such terms as gave him a clear discovery that I could not disapprove it So soon as the Chirurgions would permit him to be seen the King came to visit him and after he had exprest the interest he took in his recovery with words full of affection he fell a commending that action as indeed it merited and yet in some sort gently blam'd him by the consequence of an intreaty no more with so careless a valour to hazard the Son of Caesar and Cleopatra against a man of Britomarus condition The King was scarce parted from him when by his own orders the Princess his Daughter came to visit him but at that sight his joy was so excessive as his wounds had like to have broke loose and by the change
himself remarkable by the effects of a valour which the Romans published beyond all example at an encounter which one of our Legions had with some Troops of Barbarians he rescued the Roman Eagles from a throng of Enemies that had newly seiz'd them and brought them back to Vinicius with their wings bathed in the blood of his Enemies who cried up that action with such loud praises as could not be accepted by the Princes modesty at the assault of some revolted places that opposed our passage and were carried by storm he was ever the first that entred the breach and by the confession of the Romans their taking it was due to the glorious example he gave those that fought near him nor was his valour of which he had given them so many presidents his only vertue for in all those disorders that Victory uses to drag along with it he gave proofs of a most unparallel'd moderation treated those that fell into his hands more like Friends and Allies than Enemies and at the taking of such places as were won by assault he often obtained many lives of his Enemies by his earnest intercession which Vinicius had designed for an exemplary terror to be cut in peices by such actions as these with the rest of his brave demeanour among the Officers and Soldiers he had so gain'd the hearts of the whole Army that they all Petitioned Vinicius to give him some considerable Command though it was unheard of in the Roman Discipline to commit any charge to persons of his Age and when Vinicius at their solicitation assisted by his own esteem of their worth had given him and Marcellus a joynt Commission to Command the Cavalry all the Officers submitted to them with a joy that wanted no proofs to express it self But the Germans were not the only Enemies they had to Combat for Cleopatra's remembrance kindled a crueller War than the Barbarians could menace indeed my Prince had no greater task than daily to feed and confirm those thoughts that entirely laid his life at his Princess feet every Idea that his fancy could shape had the face of delight and left a pleasing impression upon his spirit but Marcellus fought with a ruder Combatant and found his design to banish her his breast was not like to gain an easie Conquest however he stretched all his Forces to strugle for it and at last his continued care carried the victory my Master who in part perceived the silent torments that Prince's generosity inflicted upon himself did often endeavour to stagger his resolution and daily protested that he had rather have him for a Rival all his life nay and would sooner chuse if necessity required and possibility consented to release all his own pretences than approve the violence suffered for his sake But the generous Marcellus stuck to his promise with an unshaken constancy and then being yery young and daily diverted by his Warlike employment which he ever followed with a marvellous ardour he obtained in part of himself what he desired and striving to prefer Julia to his thoughts by the memory of her beauty which indeed might be ranked with the most delicate in the world by the favour she had shown him and the Emper or 's will upon whom his Fortunes totally depended he quickly made a considerable progress In the mean time my Prince wrote often to the Princess Cleopatra it would pose my memory to repeat all his Letter I have only in part retained the sense and words of some of the shortest and I believe the first he wrote little differed from these terms Prince Coriolanus to the Princess Cleopatra IT is not enough to tell you my Divine Princess that you are always present in my memory for with greater truth I may protest you have the entire possession of my soul where in the sternest dangers you ever keep your Command and Combat Romes Enemies with Arms that are invincible Ha! my Princess who can oppose a heart animated with so bright an Image What Enemy will be able to dispute the glory with me that may shew me the way to deserve you This high design will doubtless teach me to do something more great than Fortune can promise and my destiny is too fair to fear a defeat by other Enemies after being conquer'd by the Divine Cleopatra This first in a short time was succeeded by another and I think the words were these Prince Coriolanus to the Princess Cleopatra I Would say Fortune smil'd upon me if the success I have gotten by her favour were not moderated by an absence to resist which I have scarce any courage left me yet I would strive to support it might I hope a place in the memory of my adorable Princess I confess I cannot ask it without rashness and yet not forbear the demand without neglecting what I owe to the conservation of a life I have given her These were the two first he wrote of which he received no answer but a while after having done wonders in another encounter which report quickly carried to Rome the Princess Octavia and the Emperor himself enjoyned her to write to him which to satisfie them she did in these words The Princess Cleopatra to Prince Coriolanus I Obey the Commands impos'd upon me to write to you without repugnance and I follow my proper inclinations when I assure you of the interest I take in the glorious success of your arms the whole world publishes your beautiful actions Rome is an entire admirer and I a particular rejoycer at them the Gods grant that Fortune may never forsake you and that you may not so blindly resign your safety to your courage as not to be careful of preserving a life that can never be indifferent to those you judge worthy of your remembrance My Prince received this Letter from the Princess with an excess of joy and kissed it a thousand times in an amorous rapture at these precious marks of her affection The knowledge it gave him how much she concern'd her self in his glory spur'd him on to greater enterprises and carried him to such a sublime pitch in the whole Armies esteem as it talk'd of nothing more than the effects of his Valour nor was he less known by the havock he made in the Enemies Camp than ours After divers Fights in Parties the two Armies came to a general Battel and it was fought so bravely on both sides upon the Banks of Danubius that the streams took increase and complexion from the blood that was spilt young Coriolanus and his friend Marcellus at the head of the Cavalry they commanded did there disclose such prodigies of Valour as till then were not known among the Romans and gave proofs of their prudence and good conduct which no hopes could rationally expect from so immature an age twice or thrice they rallied and reinforc'd their Troops which the first fury of the Barbarians had put into disorder and led them on again so couragiously as after they
fit that a Prince descended from so long a succession of Kings should waste the beauty of his age at Rome in the employment of simple Citizens and since of all I should have heired from my Ancestors there is nothing left me but a Sword 't is but fit it should shew me the way to overtake that departed glory and those dignities that once dwelt in our family I know well that I ought not to hope a recovery by force of those Crowns that the Roman Arms have ravished from us they are possessed by a puissance that others are too feeble to encounter and by a puissance more to me by Obligation than Grandeur yet I may have the hap to oblige great Caesar with my services to make good the intentions of his Predecessor and by lavishing my blood and life for his Interests possibly merit those Crowns from his bounty that Fortune took away before Nature shewed me to the World In the mean time the Princess Julia whose spirit indeed is a little wavering will lose that impression in my absence which she received for my misfortune as well as yours and your presence assisted by her own reason and the force of her Judgement which will ripen with her age no doubt will scatter those young Idea's which are yet scarce grown to a perfect form and may therefore be easily chased away by your affection and those grand qualities the Gods have put into your Person To these words the Prince added divers others to the same purpose which Marcellus having peaceably heard For that which touches me said he I will never agree you should forsake a place to which you are tyed by so just and so noble a passion to the other that regards your glory and the re-establishment of your Dignity give me leave to joyn Interest with you and for yours believe it I will never stick to hazard my life nor refuse to pay down my blood to the last drop if the total expence of it may be fruiful to your repose or glory Doubtless the two Princes had inlarged their Dialogue if they had not spy'd a great troop of Ladies enter the Alley which presently they knew to be the Princess Octavia Cleopatra Emilia Sulpitia and divers others of the greatest among the Romans the Ladies no sooner drew near the Arbor but they saw the two Princes come out to meet them and after the Princess Octavia had chid their sullen and melancholy humour that mislead them to the search of solitude she ask'd if they had any mind to increase the company There were but few men in it and those that were respectively resign'd their places to the two Princes Marcellus to oblige his friend entertain'd the Princess Octavia his Mother and Coriolanus led Cleopatra the whole company walk'd in couples through the several Alleys still keeping such a distance as lent them liberty to exchange their thoughts without any fear of over-hearers Cleopatra eying an unusual trouble and an extraordinary Emotion in the aspect of the Affrican Prince How is it Coriolanus said she that I find so sad an inquietude upon your brow has Fortune hatch'd you any fresh displeasure If the desire does not disoblige you I would willingly know the cause of your trouble 'T is too hard a task Madam reply'd the Prince for my Face not to tell tales of my Sorrow too difficult for him to personate content that is going to the rack of a cruel affection Madam my fate enjoyns me to leave you which is the same to say I must be torn from my self and who can carry such a torture within him and not betray some exterior symptoms Madam it is my shame that I have liv'd so long in your service unbusied with glory or ambition and since I had the daring to raise my eyes to you 't is fit I should think of other employments to render my self worthy of the honour to serve you to be barely the Son of a King can assert no sufficient merit and if Fortune robbed me of the dignity 't is requir'd of my vertue to recover it for to live in the condition of a private man at Rome and yet love Cleopatra are things incompatible I do not wholly oppose your design reply'd the Princess to pursue that path of glory to your establishment which you have already begun to tread so hopefully and though your presence be as dear to me as you ought to desire yet I can resolve to lose it for a time in hope to see your vertue remount the Throne of your Ancestors not that the loss of your Crowns can render your person less considerable than if they impal'd your brow that blind Deity has handled us as rudely as you and humbled our Family too low to leave us any cause of misprizing those Princes that she has plundred but since nothing can look big enough to daunt your Courage and that inspires you to trace the steps of your Predecessors the knowledge I have that you are born to great undertakings shall vanquish that repugnance which indeed disswades my consent to this separation and if the Destinies do not oppose you you ought to expect all from your valour but Coriolanus though this reason be strong enough to take you from us you must confess it is not the cause that drives you away and that some other consideration precipitates your departure The respect which I have always chain'd to your will answered the Prince does not permit me to disguise the truth and though discretion and Modesty dispute against it they are too weak to confute my obedience It is true Madam since you are pleased I should avow it I do owe a little voyage to my friends repose and being infortunate enough to injure him I am going for a time to flie those occasions and seek others that may render me worthy to be owned by you I apprehend enough added the Princess with a smile and I think I shall not make you blush when I tell you you are loved by Julia. I cannot believe it love modestly answered the Prince but rather the malice of mine and Marcellus's fortune that was willing to conduct the addresses of that wavering spirit while she sought occasions of inconstancy rather to me than any other I suspected it before reply'd the Princess by divers remarkable conjectures but was loth to let you know so much for fear of disturbing the satisfaction you receive in the affection and research of so fair a Princess Indeed it is so great coldly answered Coriolanus as I am too weak to support the weight of it and for that reason will flie as far as the Earth has limits if it be otherwise impossible to defend my self from it You are cruel Coriolanus reply'd the Princess with a graceful and Majestick action and if you thus contemptuously treat fair Ladies and such as are of Julia's lofty quality what may those hope from you to whom Nature and Fortune have been penurious She that I adore
which he had in his thoughts and my Masters earnest entreaty that he would stay a while with Julia and endeavour to recover her sickned flames wrought upon him so successfully as at last he was content that Rome should yet be his residence I need not speak of the preparations these two young Generals made of their voyage nor trouble you with Julia's discontent for my Masters separation who in every place that he met her and when he took his leave still evaded particular Discourses with a grand Circumspection and the hast I make to pass to the Narrative of weightier affairs only permits me to tell you that the day of their departure being arriv'd after they had received the Emperors Orders the two Princes took leave of Cleopatra apart I know not what language was exchanged betwixt her and Tiberius but my Masters shewed the marks of a most ardent passion and Cleopatra's of an affection which gave Coriolanus cause enough to be contented It is not Madam said he after some preceeding Discourses it is not your affection that calls my courage to this dispute with Tiberius that keeps to a greater height of value for either to aspire at at the charge of all our blood nor can it be bought but with such services as are peculiarly paid to your self and not those that are laid out for the Empires Interests no 't is the favour of Augustus that by glorious actions I must pluck from Tiberius if it be possible and since your fortune has submitted you in such a sort to his power as after purchase of your consent my hopes must still wait upon his to compleat my happiness give me leave if you please by lavishing my life for his interests to oblige him to consider my services as well as Livia's sollicitations yes Coriolanus reply'd the Princess you have my consent and to confirm you that you have it know you need not dispute my affection with your Rival in the rough argument of arms be assured the advantage shall ever stay on your side and though fortune should crown the Crest of Tiberius with the Palmy wreaths of most glorious victories she shall never have a power to give him any part of my inclinations you have already too great a share in them to leave him the spark of any hope alive and I cannot now assume the liberty of expressing that to you with any decorum which I did not fix in my breast before I had weighed it I will trace their amorous Dialogue no further for fear the length of it should disoblige your patience at last after he had breath'd a thousand vows at her feet of an eternal fidelity and received a confirmation from her own mouth of those dear hopes she had given him my Prince receiv'd her adieu with a consolation that help'd to sweeten the regret of his absence and about an hour after mounted on horseback with a great number of friends who brought him many days journies on the way but at last having parted from those that went not the Expedition we march'd with the rest through Gallia Narbonensis and those other Provinces that lay in our way to Austria and Cantabria HYMEN'S PRAELUDIA OR Love's Master-Piece PART II. LIB III. ARGUMENT The gallant Acts and grand Victories of Coriolanus in the Austrian War Tiberius luckily finishes that in Dalmatia returns before his Rivals and by Livia 's means gains the Emperor to a partial Arbitration The news of this hastily calls home Coriolanus His haughty language to Caesar procures his Banishment The fantastick vicissitudes of Julia 's kindness and inconstancy to Marcellus Coriolanus challenges Tiberius in the Temple and the next day runs him through in the Streets THUS Emilius recounted his Masters Life to Prince Tyridates who heard him with a marvellous attention when there came one and told him that Coriolanus after some hours quiet repose was newly awaked Tyridates whose generosity was deeply concerned in the care of such a qualified Guest though he flamed with desire to learn the sequel of his Adventures he then preferred Society before his Story judging it time to dine and enjoyned by Civility to keep him company he was willing for a while to defer the continuation of Emilius recital They went together to his Chamber and the Son of Juba no sooner saw Tyridates but receiving him with an obliging action full of bewitching sweetness You come said he from trifling some hours upon a mean divertisement and you have had your desires to be acquainted with things so little worthy of your attention as I fear you are justly displeased with my complacence to your curiosity I have yet understood no more reply'd Tyridates than the morning actions of your life and though those of the latter edition which I confusedly took from the mouth of Rumour be doubtless the greater and more important those beautiful beginnings have so tyed me to your vertue in the chains of love and wonder as I can now no more regard you without the extraordinary motions of affection and respect Your affection is too dangerous answer'd the Moorish Prince to be otherwise received than as the greatest bliss that fortune can offer me but I rather owe it your generous disposition than the recital of a few trivial actions incapable to merit it that excessive modesty of yours reply'd Tyridates has confirmed my design to accept no part of the story from your own mouth for I see you will debase the Grandeur of your actions as I shall draw nothing from you but what will fall infinitely short of truth While thus they inlarged their Civilities their dinner came in during which they entertain'd each other with discourses as agreeable as their melancholy hearts could allow The valiant unknown was served in his Chamber with other meats for the depth of his wounds oblig'd him to another sort of nourishment he was very hardly dispos'd to suffer the application of any remedy and the reason he had to afflict himself returning to his memory left him so little regard of life as the care of his recovery was only acted by Tyridates and his Squire Indeed the Prince of Parthia omitted no endeavours that would have been contributed to his proper safety and by the brave things he had seen him do and that Majestick mind which was able to sink an impression of respect in all the Souls that beheld him he had received an opinion of him as a person wholly extraordinary Dinner was no sooner ended but he was at his Chamber door to enquire of his health and understanding from the Chirurgions he might now safely be spoken to he entered the Chamber and approaching the bed gave him the bonjour the stranger inforced his griefs to return what he thought was due to his benefactor and regarding him with eyes that in spight of their sickly Eclipse sparkled something more fierce and martial than was to be found in the rest of mankind You mis-employ your pity said he upon a
as those he carried of Canidius Cecinna and Sillanius two other Lieutenants to Volusius their Troops were all cut in pieces and our Souldiers enriched themselves with their Spoils every City and all the Country as we passed gladly contributed money and victuals to the entertainment of our Army in exchange received a treatment from the Souldiers that carried a neerer resemblance to a Brotherly Visit than an Invasion From the Scelatites whose Country was totally reduced after we had passed the Rivers Darath and Palsus we succeeded to the Province of the Pharusians on this side the Promontory of Barce and there it was that Volusius contrary to the rules of Military Prudence having drain'd all his Garrisons and drawn up the forces that lay upon the Frontiers resolving to crush us in pieces with one great effort for all came up towards us with 12000 Horse and above 30000 Foot strowing the way as he passed with proud menaces against us which daily arrived at our Ears and indeed the feeble resistance the Romans had formerly found in those people my Master commanded gave him so easie a Confidence of the victory as with an unreasonable providence he had already disposed of all things that were to succeed it Our Army still receiving additional numbers from every place we touched at was then composed of 8000 Horse and 32000 Foot which My Prince had already imbued with so fair a Discipline as the Roman Legions could scarce boast a better order or a more exact obedience You see Sir I have given you this relation in as narrow precincts as possible though I believe your patience had suffer'd in the recital of divers things whereof the knowledge may possible seem impertinent to my Masters life The Army of Volusius being now within a days journey of ours my Master who till then had advanc'd to meet him rested his upon a fair Plain some Furlongs from the City of Daridi where he resolv'd to expect his approaches and prudently lay out his time in the choice of some local advantages That day he received a Letter or rather a Defiances from Volusius in which he proffered him to fight the following day I think the word were these Septimus Volusius Praetor of the two Mauritania's and General of the Roman Armies to Coriolanus Son of Juba WE have understood that in contempt of what thou owest to the Roman Name and the Sacred Authority of Augustus Caesar thy Emperour and Benefactour thou art come upon these Provinces which thy Father lost in a just War to raise his Subjects and trouble the repose of his people and though this ingratitude against thy Lord and Master would be better requited by an ignominious punishment than the glory thou maist reap in combating the Roman Army yet we have not disdain'd this imployment of our Swords against thee to try if the Roman Education has rendered thee worthy to inherit thy Fathers Destiny whose haughty attempt to shock our puissance was rewarded by a glorious death from our hands to morrow if thou hast Courage enough to attend us we shall decide thy pretences by the battel we offer thee and pay what we owe to the memory of Julius Caesar in assuring his Conquests by thy Defeat stay for us and by a generous resistance prevent our blushes for the victory My Master having read this defiance of Volusius aloud mock'd at his arrogance and turning towards us with a smile full of indignation He may chance to speak in a milder Accent said he before to morrows Sun has ended his Carreir yet he would not send back the Messenger without an answer and calling for Paper he made it speak in these terms Juba Coriolanus King of the two Mauritanias Enemy to the Roman Empire and legitimate Heir to his Fathers Crowns to Septimus Volusius THY proud threats that have rather provok'd our derision than Anger could not disswade us to vouchsafe thee an answer and though we owe not Justication neither to thee nor Caesar thy Emperour and thy Master but not ours we declare the desire of recocovering our lawful heritage was less officious to arm us in this quarrel than that of delivering our People from the hard servitude wherein thy horrible exactions and daily repeated Cruelties do hold them Caesar has refus'd the Justice they demanded against thee and they have found out their natural Prince who by the Gods assistance and the Justice of his Cause does climb the throne of his Predecessours which the Roman Tyranny had injuriously usurped if my Father fell his Fortune gave way to the greatest man that ever was and thou art too short of his worth upon whom Heaven bestowed the Thapsian victory to menace us with the same fate to morrow since thou wilt have it so shall determine a part of our difference and if thou darest spare the blood of many thousands who will find their Funerals in that Battel I shall not scruple however the disparity of our Conditions may disallow it to decide our quarrel by a personal Combat against thee if thou dost not disapprove thou wilt signifie thy acceptance of this offer in the mean time rectifie thy fear and rather dread the shame of thy defeat than of a victory which will be hotly disputed This was my Masters answer who employed the rest of the day with a marvellous care and knowledge in preparing all things for the Combat and the next day a little after Sun was risen our Scouts bringing intelligence that the Enemy was advanc'd within a few furlongs of our Army he compos'd it to a fighting posture with an admirable method rode bareheaded through all the Squadrons exposing the visage of their Prince to the Souldiers view which they contemplated with a sacred veneration and spurring their spirits to the Combat with an extraordinary ardour There are few men endowed with an eloquence comparable to his and that day particularly animated by the importance of the action he was to perform the force of his Rhetorick left an impression of Courage upon the coldest hearts his new dignity had added Majesty to his aspect and though it brought no pride along with it yet his face seem'd to give new lessons of respect to all those that regarded him to this every thing about him contributed the mingled beauty of his arms glittering with Gold and Jewels the stately pride of his Horse all things fitly suited to the advantages of his person He had almost gone through all the ranks when Volusius Troops began to appear at the sight of which our Army sent up a loud cry to Heaven which marvellously confirmed my Prince in his hopes of victory all the Sacrifices promis'd a happy Augury and at the Enemies approach there remained no more but the last Signal which was given by my Princes command who advancing before the rest a thousand times more fierce than Achilles himself often called upon Volusius with a loud voice but he was then busied in the midst of his Battalians
had disclosed to the world that Son of Caesar her attention to the recital was made her of that Tragedy was mingled with a bundance of sighs and awaked in her soul a remembrance full of pity and veneration for the Fortune of so great a Queen Cornelius was ready to leave her to her private repose when he saw a part of those enter that by Candace's intreaty he had sent to the Princes relief who being demanded how they had thriven in their late employment it was replyed they had laid out their pains in vain for being arrived at the place whereto they were guided by the Ladies directions they had only there found the marks of a great and bloudy Combat the Earth covered with bloud and fifteen or twenty men lay stretched upon the ground among which their endeavour to learn the truth had found two still living who related the event of the combat and confest themselves and all those that lay dead about them to be Souldiers belonging to the Pirate Zenodorus that they had been brought into that condition by the invincible valour of four persons and that after their defeat the Victors were gone thence upon the spur as they conceived in pursuit of a Lady whom their Captain had carried away From this Discourse Candace took abundance of comfort or at least her heart was eased of much disquiet by this assurance that her dear Caesar was escaped the danger and upon this pleasing subject her thoughts began to grow busie when Cornelius unwilling to debar her that liberty took his leave and left her alone with Clitie in chamber From that day he took order she should be served as a person whose quality he suspected did much overtop her present garb and appearance and though he was desirous to learn the truth he was not willing to betray an impatient curiosity till time should offer an occasion to do it with a more becoming pretence but if Cornelius had a desire to know the Queen had as great a design to conceal her quality and to that end instructed Clitie for her future demeanour This caution involved no ingratitude for the service Cornelius had rendered her though she could do no less than regard him as a person that usurped the right of her dear Caesario and a Lieutenant to the cruel Enemy that had passed such a bloody sentence on his life besides she had discovered in his face and language some signs of a budding affection and that sole consideration quickly grew fruitful enough to be the Mother of those twins Distrust and Secresie Nor was her suspicion groundless and that Man who possible had past the preceding part of his life without feeling that the Boy had a bow had received so powerful an inclination from the first Rays of Candace's beauty to serve her and that so sensibly augmented by the inchanting sweetness of her garb and language as in a few days time it became strong enough to leave nothing free in the soul of Cornelius his first nights rest was interrupted by the agreeable Idea of his fair guest and almost wholly consumed in the entertainment of such love-sick thoughts and amorous musings as had yet been strangers to his breast At first he made some attempts to defend himself already taking fears from the first inquietudes he had suffered from this incroaching malady but in the sequel all their arguments struck sail to the pleasing flatteries of such hopes as a man so considerable in person and quality might properly conceive If this Lady said he be of an illustrious birth as there is much about her to settle that opinion which takes another proof from so many accidents and effects of Fortune who as we daily see makes it her sport to toss such Tennis balls I may safely raise and own my pretences to her lawful possession without offending my honour but if her veins hold no bloud that will deserve my alliance I will try to find another way to satiate my desires in the mean time I shall leave no stone unrolled by the safe and gentle ways of service that may win me her affections and since the Gods have put her into my hands by an adventure so uncommon I will try to improve that advantage nor shall any consideration perswade me to resign her liberty This was the Praetors resolution whereof the Queens ignorance defended her from a sad resentment In the mean time that tedious night became a witness of her restless apprehensions and the Image of her dear Caesario who wounded as her thoughts had figured him and ranging on all sides in quest of her still returning to her timerous fancy scarce left her one hour of sleep that was not broken by those inquietudes The next day she was visited by Cornelius who endeavoured to divertise by shewing her all the beauties of the Palace and straining his fancy to find out divers other inventions that might offer her delight but all had little power to dispossess or deceive the deep melancholly that oppressed her spirit and though by a discreet complaisance she paid him her regards with a visage serene enough yet it might be easily observed she could not repulse those cruel agitations that her heart sent thither Every single action of hers blew up new flames in the Praetor's brest but whatever violence he felt they inflicted was all close Prisoner to Candace's Majesty which imprinted a respect that imposed his silence and left him no power to set any of those thoughts at liberty After he had passed a part of the day in her company he was called away by some pressing affairs that demanded the rest which the Princess spent onely with Clitie upon the ordinary task her melancholly imposed she thought it required of her affection and civility to send some body to Tyridates house as well to learn if possible what became of Caesario as receive the knowledge of that Princes condition and render him an account of her own to whom she remembred her self so deeply obliged but this resolved she wanted a person proper for that imployment and though she did not doubt but Cornelius would readily furnish her she thought there was more circumspection due to the fear of discovering that by an imprudent confidence which both her desire and discretion devoted to silence It was then the season of the year when the Sun over-warmed that Climate with a prodigality of beams and that Evening the night being well advanced before sleep could fasten any charm upon Candace's eyes to take a cool refreshment by tasting the Evenings dewy breath she went to walk upon a Terasse neer her Chamber where she had already taken some turns before the nights arrival This was a large open gallery supported by Marble Pillars whence the unrestrained eye might freely gather a pleasing variety of objects both from the Sea and all the adjacent places to Alexandria her Chamber was not the onely neighbour to this Terasse but being of the same length with
through the present prohibition of his liberty by those unlucky wounds The news of Antenor's total defeat quickly flew to Meroe and if Tyribasus was torn with grief and rage for the death of a Brother whom he highly esteemed I did not celebrate my Caesar's success with a mediocrity of joy nor offer the Gods any cold or sluggish vows for a continuation of their assistance Tyribasus half distracted with fury and deeply vowing his brothers revenge made such impatient hast to draw up all his Forces to a general Rendezvouz as before Caesario could quit his bed and march from the place where his wounds had arrested him we beheld above 100000 Combatants drawn together before the Gates of Meroe and Tyribasus after he had set a strong guard upon my person and left another in the City put himself into the head of them and marched against Cleomedon But first he came armed at all points to take his leave of me and methoughts I saw his anger sparkle in his eyes however he struggled with himself in my presence to sweeten the fierceness of his looks Madam said he till now I have spared Clemedon's life because you loved him but the death of a dear Brother hath strangled all the pity I had for him and I am now going to sacrifice him to the ghost of Antenor and mine own repose to which he would be a perpetual trouble should I still suffer him to stay in the world the Tyrants numerous Army and Caesario's weakness of which I was assured by a certain intelligence had already filled me with fear of a sad event that was founded upon too much reason but this last threat that Tyribasus uttered with so proud a confidence froze my soul with a mortal apprehension and regarding him with an eye that could not stay some disobedient tears which crept away upon my cheeks Didst thou go against Cleomedon said I with forces equal to his I would not harbour the least doubt of a certain victory but feeble as he is I hope the Gods in fighting for him will strike in my quarrel with the Sword of Justice Tyribasus quitted my Chamber without a reply and in a short time after the City Cleomedon still kept his bed in a very weak condition near the place where he defeated Antenor's Army when he learned that Tyribasus was coming to fight him in the van of 100000 men his Army scarce consisting of 16000 and of those 10000 wounded besides his own three hurts so excessively pained him as they might well have disabled any other person of a more delicate Complexion to fit on horseback but all these reasons could not oblige him to fly the Combat nor lend any credit to the Counsel of his Governour and Friends who earnestly pressed him to retire as it was yet time enough if he had been willing Were there but the least appearance of a possibility said he to re inforce our Army with any fresh supplies for the Queens service I would providently reserve my life for her interests but since all my hopes are dead onely a few excepted that still breath in your valour I had rather die generously with you than take my life upon shameful terms and carry it where it cannot be useful I shall not blame any for retiring that can be affrighted with death and with the help of those undaunted courages that dare stay with me and affront it I may possibly strike some fear through the Soul of Tyribasus in the very Centre of his Army With this resolution he called for his Arms and mounted on horseback he advanced with that handful of men to meet his Enemies who were all resolved to die in his Company The next day he came in view of Tyribasus Army that covered all the Campania and stretched it self out on either side with two long half Moons to environ him but he took not the least astonishment from that object and turning towards his valiant Companions with as much vivacity and assurance in his looks as if he had gone to triumph My Friends said he we must all die to day for the service of our Queen but in our death find a glory preferrable to the condition of our Enemies and offer Candace as fair a Sacrifice as she ought to hope from her faithful Subjects At these words he charged in through a world of his Enemies who not acquainted with his design to die stood amazed at the prodigality of his Valour they were all presently encompassed by the Tyrants command which they never so much as endeavoured to hinder and Caesario seeking none but Tyribasus made his name sound on all sides and loudly called him to Combat where-ever he addressed his steps or blows Yet he had found it impossible to aboard him by reason of those vast numbers that defended his person if Tyribasus who indeed was a valiant man had refused the challenge In fine Caesario throwing down all before him with blows that might better be called the effects of a desperate rage than a humane valour Tyribasus pressing towards him to facilitate his Enterprise buckled with his Rival in the midst of his men gave him two deep wounds in the body and threw him from his horse to the earth in a swoond but Tyribasus was quickly relieved by a great number of his own men that flew in to his rescue and took him up from the place where he lay and Caesario constrained by the throng to turn his Sword another way received so many blows from his Enemies on all sides as at last by the great effusion of his bloud and the loss of all his forces he fell from his Horse among the dead without either sense or knowledge Scarce one man of his little Army escaped the slaughter but they did things before they died that may justly claim a preheminence in the story of those brave Lacedemonians that acquired so beautiful a reputation by perishing with their valiant King at the battel of Thermopyle Tyribasus lost twice that number of his own men that composed their Army and himself ran a greater risque of his life than ever he encountred in all his former dangers In the mean time I stayed at Meroe busied with fears tears and prayers wherewith I incessantly solicited Heaven for Caesario's safety every thing my thoughts could glance at served to feed those apprehensions that destroyed my repose and I had already worn out many tedious nights without so much as closing my Eye-lids when to redouble my cruel inquietudes the day before I learned the sad news my fears had so often foretold Clitie delivered me a Letter she had newly received from an unknown Souldier as she came back from the Temple suspecting the truth I opened it with a trembling hast and met with these words which the poor Prince had wrote hazarded to that Souldiers fidelity some few hours before he had charged his Enemy Cleomedon to the Queen Candace IF any reason could instruct me how
it in spight of your aversion Before he departed my Chamber he openly confirmed this menace with deep Oaths in the presence of all his followers which on the sudden so decrested my spirit as I could not command courage enough to return him a syllable The very same day I met Caesario in the Garden who flew into such a fury at the relation I gave him of this last passage as he had much ado to restrain himself from going to give the Tyrant death in the midst of a thousand swords where infallibly he would have found his own but his passion in homage to the reasons I urged fell at last by degrees to a cooler temper and after he had taken some time to scan the advice of every thought Tyribasus said he has forced me by his violence to precipitate a design which is not yet ready to disclose and whereof the success will not probably be such as I might have promis'd my self had it staid for a maturer birth but of this he shall be sure that I will either perish with many partners in my quarrel or stain the saffron robes of his expected Hymen with the black blood that is neerest his perfidious heart He said no more but presently after parted from me without prefixing either time or place for our next meeting I retired to my Chamber trembling at the threats of both the Rivals and if on one side I feared the violence of Tiribasus on the other I could do no less than shudder at the thoughts of those grinning dangers which Caesario was going to attempt for my relief This aguish fit of fear held me divers daies without intermission during which Tiribasus redoubled my terrours by many evident proofs that he meant his menaces and the publick preparations he made for his marriage would not let me find the least flaw in his resolution I should sooner have chosen to have lain alone in my grave than received such a partner in my bed but I was then reduced to such a wretched condition as my fancy could glide at no particular that lay in the way to my wishes which did not represent the face of terror and I saw my self besieged with so many pregnant causes of fear as I found it utterly impossible to calm my inquietudes I detain your attention too long in this troublesome passage and 't is now time to lead it to the latest accidents of my life The sixth day was already pass'd with a great part of the succeeding night since Tyribasus dated my sad expectations when we were waked with a thundring noise which we heard in the streets of Meroe that principally bent the loudest clamour at the Pallace-gates where there was fought a very great and furious Combat Caesario by means unknown to me was come that night into the City after he had cunningly by degrees slipt in 4000 valiant men before him at several gates by the help of a spreading intelligence that he kept in all parts of the City and marching in their van directly to the Palace he had attacked the out-guards and fought it so successfully as all those that defended the first Gates were cut in pieces and the furious Caesario was already broke into the Court where he made whole brooks of Rebels bloud on all sides Tyribasus whom the loud alarm had wakened was quickly got upon his feet and causing arms arms to be cryed in every quarter by that means he called all the Guard that belonged to his person about him a hundred Torches were lighted up in an instant and being got by their direction out of his Chamber he would fain have run where the noise called him but the confusion distracted his thoughts and by this time he heard it was come round about him for at the same time that Caesario with 2000 men had opened himself a passage at the great Gate his two friends Telimachus and Oristhenes each with a thousand at his heels had broke in at two other Gates behind that were but slightly guarded and by three several ways Tyribasus saw his Enemies enter the Palace putting all to the sword they encountred and sending up a loud cry where ever they came Long live our Queen Candace and let the Tyrant of Aethiopia die kill the Tyrant Tyribasus in spight of all his courage could not chuse but tremble at this surprizal but endeavouring to dispell his amazement with as much promptitude as possible he ran with his sword in his hand with all those that had taken the alarm to the head of the great stairs and had begun to descend some of the first steps when he saw the valiant Caesario all covered with bloud coming up to encounter him and having left off his black Mask Tyribasus by Torch-light presently knew him his astonishment was strangely redoubled to see the dead come back from their Graves to procure his ruine but his reason had no time to track that adventure to the Fountain and Caesario no sooner spyed him but fiercely springing towards him with nought but terrour in his looks and actions Thou must dye Tyribasus said he Tyrant thou must dye Tyribasus was affrighted at the Menace and though perhaps at another time he would not have refused Combat against Cleomedon yet than finding his forces too feeble to maintain it and knowing besides if he could but avoid that encounter and recover the City his party would soon be the strongest he turned his back upon his Rival and thrusting himself among his men he ran with all the hast he could make towards a door that he spyed open Caesario furiously pursued him with his sword at his Reins and divers of his men desperately pawning their lives to preserve their Masters opposed his passage and if they were unfortunate enough to fall under the steel and rage of Caesar's Son at least they gave Tirybasus time to gain the door and from thence crossing the next Chamber by a little pair of stairs wherewith he was well acquainted slipping down without the least resistance in the Court and there mingled himself with the tumultuous throng he passed undiscovered from thence into the streets In the mean time you may easily judge how strongly my Soul was alarm'd the noise had waked me at the first irruption and my imagination quickly construing the cause I started out of my Bed and ran to the window that looked into the Court from whence by the light of divers Torches I beheld a part of the slaughter I had heard as well the cries of dying men as of those that caused them among which I often distinguished the voice of Caesario after I saw he had made himself Master of the Court I lost sight of him when he mounted the great stairs and I was painfully suffering the ignorance of what had befallen him there when I heard the Soldiers cry out in several quarters of the Palace that the Tyrant had saved himself So soon as Caesario knew Tyribasus was got into
impossible to hate him A few daies after I began to perceive he regarded me with an eye no longer indifferent his words were ranged with more care and less confidence than before and in all his actions he essai'd to bespeak me an opinion that the world could not offer him an employment which was not less important and considerable in his thoughts than the pettiest occasion to serve and please me had I commented upon this carriage of his with interest my conjectures could not have missed the mark he aimed at but as I was then young and my spirit untrained to those discoveries and my thoughts prepossessed with the sense of our Captivity in which though sweetned with his civilities I could not chuse but taste the restraint I did not level my regards at a man so vastly below me to tie any particular remark upon his behaviour which in all probability would have made me flie his conversation One day he came into the Queen's Chamber and entertaining me while my Mother was busied about some dispatches she was to send to the King for that liberty was allowed her after the exchange of some other discourse that begun the Dialogue Madam said she you would have great cause to hate me if I did not strive with all the strength of industry to remove it and to the prejudice of what my honour excepted is the dearest thing in the world to my wishes I did not endeavour to give you some service which you could never receive by the single suffrage of my will if that pretious liberty which for my misfortune more than yours our success in war has ravished from you depended upon my resignation it would not remain so long in anothers custody as that He stopt short at these words and confessed by a change of a look a confusion in his thoughts which I was then too innocent to observe though I had better intelligence from some reflections since upon that passage and after some moments of silence recovering his speech I say Madam pursued he had it been in my power to finish this restraint of yours that throws me at the feet of your mercy for a gentle construction the very same day I was so unlucky to begin it you should not now regard me as the man that has done you the rudest injury but as he that would gladly sprinkle the purest bloud about his heart upon your Altar to expiate his crime It is my misfortune that I cannot crave that liberty to my self without deceiving a Master to whom I owe all and betraying the trust he has deposited in me beyond the just claim of my deserts nor would those Forces that obey me by his order do less than openly oppose a design of that nature and in fine Madam my thoughts can plot no safer contrivance to release you from this estate which I cannot look upon without sighs and blushes than the same I had chosen to serve you I was glad to hear these words that put me in some hope of liberty and regarding Artaban with an aspect that told him as much And upon what projection said I have you fastened to restore us our freedom have you sent propositions to the King my Father and does he offer Provinces or Treasures for the price of our liberties No Madam replyed Artaban I shall only direct my addresses to the King my Master and 't is from the affection he bears me and that promised recompence which his goodness deems a just debt to the services I have done him that I derive a hope of means to release you vouchsafe Madam if you please pursued he drawing out a letter from his pocket and presenting it open to my hands to read here what he has done me the honour to write me and Judge if this bounty does not justly embolden me to demand something of a grand value at his royal hands At these words he gave me the letter wherein I read what follows Tigranes King of the Medes to the invincible Artaban I Should be the most ingrateful of Princes should I withold the confession that I owe you all and I do not debase my dignity in publishing that I hold my Crown of you since your admirable valour catched it when it was falling from my head and replanted it there by the entire ruine of mine Enemies I see the bounty of Heaven that presented you to me as the tutelary Demon of Media still showers the same success upon you in the Parthians Country as when you first beat them from our thresholds and it is now groundless hope that bids me expect a more puissant Crown from your victorious Sword than my Predecessors left me But dear Artaban what can I do to be quit with your deserts and what reward will be high enough to measure with your services With a part of those Territories your invincible arm has restored me demand something else that carries a greater value and though your desires include a large share of my proper blood do not feat the refusal of a King whom the unparallel'd effects of your vertue has rendered inviolably yours I avow said I to Artaban after I had read this letter that the Median King does ingenuously acknowledge what he owes you yet I must say too there was little reason he should have spoke less to that purpose and should he stick at the price of any recompence he would prove himself unworthy of those important services you have done him Would to Heavens replyed Artaban with a sigh that all persons to whom I have vowed service would accept and own it as your judgement directs them and that you your self when I shall once be so happy to make good my intentions would suit your resentments to your own language You would wrong us to doubt replyed I that either the Queen or my self do not think our selves highly obliged to your noble offices or shall ever be tardy in her wills to express though at the rate of something that is dearest that our apprehensions are neither slow nor insensible to your generosity No Madam added he in lieu of those promises you offer so freely I expect a loss that in all appearance my whole life will hardly repair however that cold fear shall not pass my design to please you and in a few daies you shall know what I shall be able to do for your service He then said no more being obliged to join with the Queen who had newly finished her dispatches and begin another discourse After his departure I acquainted the Queen with the hopes he had given me and as she had cause to credit the parole of so brave a man she began to take out some lessons of comfort from the opinion of his vertue and solemnly wait the effects of promise Nor did our expectations abuse us and since I cannot be civil with your patience unless I abridge a discourse that if I untwisted every particular would reach â—o an insufferable length be pleased
Queen and Princess were Prisoners The King of Media is taken by his Rival and released again in exchange for Elisa and her Mothers liberty He gains two signal Victories beside Makes an entire conquest of Media and drives Tigranes to seek refuge and beg aid in the Courts of Cappadocia and Cilicia He is triumphantly received by Phraates Boldly solicites his love suit to Ehsa Is abetted by Urinoe and at last wins her consent to demand her of her Father He receives a rude repulse from Phraates which provokes hot words and they procure his banishment Media is invaded and re-conquered by Tigranes assistants Peace concluded upon his marriage with the Princess Elisa Artaban loses his labour and liberty by endeavouring to hinder it His strange adventures upon the Sea Elisa is delivered from the Pirates and brought to Alexandria ARtaban having taken his leave of the King began to march towards Media and the next day we parted from Nisa to remove to Cassiâ—pe where the King frequently passed his Summer and where the Court was commonly the fairest and better accommodated than in any other City of the Kingdom The Image of Artaban as well in our Voyage as after our arrival was perpetually before my eyes but my fancy according to the alternate rule of anger and affection received it in very different forms and the pique I took against him for a crime whereof my haughty spirit at least pretended him guilty had no such absolute authority in my soul but it still had a loving enemy to combat I could not wake the remembrance of the declaration he had made me without a flat falling out with his audacious enterprise and yet when I called to mind the grandeur of his actions the importance of his services and the constellation of his excellent qualities both of mind and body it abated the swellings of my heart and softned my resentments Can I do lesse than hate that arrogant wretch would I say that flies at an Eagles pitch from a common nest that unknown thing nay possibly that Cottage Creature who because he has borrowed greatness from his Masters bounty thinks he may justifie his ambition in taking his aim at me Taking his aim did I say he is yet a thousand times more criminal had he only sinned in thought and covered his passion with a respective silence it had been pardonable but to breath his fancies flames at the mouth to declare his love in clear and intelligble terms and all this to the Princess of Parthia 't is a boldness 't is an insolence that cannot be justified Discretion and Honour require it that I banish the presumptuous and inconsiderable man from my sight and memory for ever and if he crouds into my presence against my will that he be received as an idle insolent who by his foolish ambition has made himself worthy of my eternal scorn and enmity Such thoughts and words as these were the eldest Children of my anger and at first they had the upper hand of all others that contested against them for whole dayes together but in sequel the softer passion got the victory and some favourable Demon to Artaban overthrew all the breast-works that my resentments had raised against him And yet that audacious Wretch would I say that bird of a common nest that borrows his greatness from his Master's bounties is the very same that rescued the Crown of Media from the King my Father's hand and since saved that of Parthia from an evident ruine 't is he who scarce arrived at so many years as upon the common account would stile him Man has already travelled in his fame to the remotest parts of the World by the death of 20000 and the winning of four or five signal Battels and in fine both by the throwing down and supporting of Empires as if the Gods had only commissioned his sword to cut out their destiny Say more Elisa 't is the same that saved thee from the violence of the Medes to whose victorious Fortune thy Life and honour might have proved a double sacrifice 't is he that made thee the generous offer of thy liberty to give it thee exposed himself to all the darts that one great danger could throw at him braved the indignation and puissance of a King that then had all his fears and hopes in his custody forsook his party to fight for thine and after having re-assured thy Father in his tottering Throne and untied the bands at the price of his blood and the peril of his life 't is still the very same that is gone again to repeat his dangers and improve the number of his victories for thy interests nay possible to make a Province of Media to the Parthian Crown and after all this 't is he that may promise Empires to himself from his own valour that may lift him to an equal dignity with thine to these considerations Elisa thou maist add that he is a man in whose mind and body are jewelled all the admirable qualities that the skil and bounty of Heaven can inchase in a mortal person a man whom to know and not to love is half a miracle and a man in fine to whom in spite of thy self thou dost already feel in thy self an extraordinary inclination My revisal of this last thought brought forth a blush and the shame of being conquered at these weapons often called in choler again to take my part against him While I was tossed upon the stream of these irresolutions that regarded Artaban we received intelligence of the sudden and marvellous success of his arms and had scarce heard that he was entered Media when there came an express that told us he had taken two of the strongest places upon the Frontier by assault and just as he was setting down before the third having learned that Phraates one of Tigranes Lieutenants was coming up with a puissant Army to relieve it he had drawn off to go meet him and since overthrown him in a battel with so great a slaughter of the Medes as gave the rest cause to fear that the entire loss of their Country would succeed it The King received this news with a marvellous satisfaction published his desire of an universal joy by all the exterior marks of his own and powered out Artaban's praise in the presence of all men with a greediness of gratitude But in spight of all my arguments of anger against him I could not chuse but own a particular concernment in his happy success and then it was that I clearly discovered to my own shame and consusion that this man with whom I thought I had been angry instead of holding the place of an Enemy in my thoughts had gotten possession of the dearest and most reserved hold about my heart and I think the Gods themselves favoured his incroachment for the same night that this news arrived after I was gotten to bed my Governess faining some pretence to stay in the Chamber when the rest were
retir'd and coming to my beds side when the Coast was clear with a wax Taper in her hand Well Madam said she what reception have you given the news from Artaban and how do you relish that success which conducts you to the Crown of Media I can do no less than rejoyce as I ought said I at such events as advance the fortune of our family and I quadrate mine with the King my fathers resentments who from Artabans victory reaps a grand assurance of his own estate and growing hope to increase it by the spoils of his Enemies and do you not feel replyed Urinoe you that are the great wheel of all actions for whom alone he lavishes his blood and life a gladness that intirely depends upon it self and singly grows up from its own root Ah Mother said I turning away my head to the other side with a troubled look will you eternally torment me with the memory of that man whose ambitious flames have kindled my disdain and anger And instead of helping me to disdain against his presumption must I ever be persecuted with the grandeut of his services and the merit of his person If I could hold my peace reply'd Urinoe without ingratitude and injustice I would leave him out of my discourse to please you but all the care and complacence requir'd in a servants fidelity cannot make me blot out the remembrance of a man to whom I owe all for the love of you and whom I would not love but because you ought to do so Sure Urinoe said I you have lost a large part of your discretion and I find of late so little reason in your words as I know not whether innocence will allow me to listen any longer to them You may pass what judgment you please upon me reply'd Urinoe with a serious visage but if you tax me with imprudence for so slight a cause I fear you will judge me à convicted fool when I have told you that I lately receiv'd a Letter from Artaban directed to your hands with an ingagement of all the credit that my care and your goodness has given me in your thoughts to perswade your perusal Be not astonish'd Madam pursu'd she remarking some amazement in my looks I would sooner have taken my death than this imployment if I thought it might justly offend you and you would wrong me to believe that my own life is not less dear to my desires than your interests 'T is true Artaban is no Prince but his vertue has already rais'd him above the greatest and will doubtless place him in a rank that shall overtop the best of those that enoble that title Besides Artaban adores you with the same respect that he owes the Gods Artaban fights for you and possible in shedding the last drop of his blood at this moment in your quarrel Urinoe followed this discourse with a long train of other arguments arm'd and authoriz'd with so much power deriv'd from my education as in spite of all my repugnance she forc'd me at last to read Artaban's Letter though I think she had not gotten so cheap a victory upon my resolution if the treachery of my proper inclinations had not aided her and my own desires struck as many blows as her perswasions in the combat Madam I have made you a confession which then I would not own to Urinoe and to that end indeavouring to possess her with a belief that to her alone Artaban was endebted for all the obligation I suffered her to approach with her candle and she open'd the Letter wherein I read these words Artaban to the Princess Elisa I Know not Madam what success I ought to expect from the continuation of my faults since my fate enforces me still to offend you and if fortune be so kind to conduct these blots to your bright eyes and so noble to lose a few moments upon the object you will read an unhappy obstinacy in my crime that may provoke a heavy doom from your anger yet Madam I have no power to repent it and though I were sure my ruine were infallibly tyed to the perseverance I would run with a greedy haste to embrace it as my last felicity To die for you is a thousand times more glorious than to put on laurel for the conquest of Media or make the spoil of Asia wait upon the triumph and the victories I may win for the King your Father must ever yield precedency to the honour of being vanquish'd by you I know you cannot chuse but blush at the conquest nor rank a private man without shame among your slaves since 't is the duty of all the Kings upon earth to submit to you and wear your chains as their greatest ornament but we have no power to fight against the force of destiny and as mine has not suffered me to fasten my regard upon any thing that is not above me so yours can let you see nothing that is not as much below you you will hardly find an equal to your self if you seek it among men and if that poverty of merit in mankind be suppliable in part for default of a full proportion it can be no other way than by such thoughts of respect and veneration as mine I know the present pitch of my short winged fortunes disgraces all the proof I can give of any zeal to serve you but possible the Gods may one day permit me to put longer feathers to their opinions and strengthen my plea to that priviledge by supplement of vertue which my birth has refused me In the mean time Madam do me the grace to receive my services without aversion and suspend your judgment which doubtless by the vote of your first resentments could not choose but be rigorous till the sequel of my actions may better inform you whether justice will enjoyn you to sign my pardon or pronounce my condemnation This was Artaban's Letter which at the solicitation of Urinoe I read distinctly and though I found some cause to be vexed at the process of his boldness yet I had not reason enough left me to confute the reasons that induc'd me to pardon him Urinoe read more than half a confession of this in my visage and willing to compleat her discovery after she had taken up the letter which I had thrown by with a regardless action Ah! Madam said she why will you do this violence upon your self do you taste any sweetness in this constraint or does my fidelity begin to be suspected is it to me that you ought to disguise your thoughts and do you believe that you hazard any thing in telling me that you are not willing to hate Artaban These words spread the Crimson livery of shame upon my cheeks and covering the blush as well as my hand would do it Urinoe said I you have almost put me past the power of answering and if customary freedom did not give me a larger Commission of boldness with you than other persons I should
obtained when we were once on Ship-board and had lost the sight of so many persons that came no farther than the shoar and might propably carry back dangerous news of them that permitted it however the first day I thought it unfit to hazard a repulse till I had made my self better acquainted with the faces of those that had power to grant it but the next day after some endeavour to soften and flex the spirits of Polinices and Tigranes Embassadors with gentler words and smoother looks than I had formerly put on I begged their permission for a sight of Artaban upon the deck of his Vessel at first these barbarous Men made some scruple to consent and defended their disobedience with the Kings orders which they alledged were positively express and rigorous against it but at last I assaulted their obstinacy with so many powerful and prevalent reasons telling them that the sight of me could no way conduce to the safety of Artaban that at best they would but rob themselves of an opportunity to oblige me since I knew I could owe the same favour to Tigranes when ever I desired it and at last threatning to let my self dye with hunger and so bereave them of all the honour and reward they expected for their service in my conduct to the King of Media if they refused my demand as in fine whether the fear of a future revenge for the churlish refusal or the importunity of my prayer was the best advocate they gave me my desires then was Artaban's vessel brought near to mine and himself placed upon the Deck with all his Irons about his arms and feet this object struck a horrour through me of my Fathers inhumanity and if Cephisa had not supported me doubtless I had fallen upon the Deck and all the succour she could lend my feeble spirits had much ado to hold in my senses to their several properties Artaban took some ruddy shame into his looks that I saw him in that slave-like posture charged with Irons and I read in the very rays that his eyes darted downwards for I saw they fled my face that it was not the fear but the kind of death that troubled him and he could not patiently take the account of those thoughts that told him he was carried to be thrown at the feet of his mercy who had so lately been dispoiled and strip'd of his Purple by his own hands of a man that was Enemy and Rival conjoyned and such a Rival whom not only his anger but his amorous interest had composed him a resolution to kill him in the very centre of his guards these reflections swelled his great heart to a purpose of anticipating his death before he received it by the King of Media's doom and in pursuit of that design perceiving he was too strictly guarded to surprize any opportunity of throwing himself into the Sea he resolved to make hunger his Executioner and had therefore taken very little nourishment since we first imbarqued After I had a little recovered my spirits that at first were driven from their places by the assault of so sad a spectacle fastning my eyes upon his face and discovering all to his easie interpretation in the Dialect of my looks that the presence of so many Witnesses advised me to hide Artaban said I the condition you appear in is very unworthy of you and if I received not some comfort from a hope to release you of all the shame and danger you should quickly know how large a propriety I claim in your misfortunes Artaban fierce as a Libian Lyon to all besides only in my presence ever gentle and submissive raised his eyes to my visage and strugling with himself to keep some sighs from breaking prison Madam said he my condition is very glorious since it takes a pedigree from no other fountain but the love of you I shall imbrace my death and finish my Tragedy without the least reluctance if my sufferings for you may speak the Epilogue for you alone I abandoned Tigranes Interests for you chased him out of your Fathers Kingdom and despoiled him of his own for you incur'd the indignation of Phraates and in fine for you am now going to tender my naked throat to the sword of the incensed Tigranes 'T is I Madam must be made the sacrifice to propitiate your Hymen and Tigranes will possess his Heaven of happiness in you without a cloud when he shall once see his fears washed away with the blood of a man that had he lived would still have held him to a very close dispute of his title this is my Destiny and yours Madam is to be led in triumph into the arms of a young King that attends your approaches with a panting expectation to receive a flourishing Crown and pass away your dayes with all the varieties of content and delight that are worthy to entertain you the establishment of yours and the end of my life I believe will both arrive at one conjuncture of time since your consent has sealed to these I forbid my soul so much as a secret murmur but if my preceeding services have made me worthy to prefer a supplication I would fain conjure you to obtain of Tigranes that he would not let me survive this last Scene of my misfortune there is cause to supect if I come alive into his hands he will prevent the death he intends me by another matyrdom ten thousand times more cruel which I shall suffer every several moment in being made a spectator of his felicity but your goodness bids me hope you will take care to cut off this approaching disaster and represent to Tigranes that he ought to content himself with his Fortune and my single fate without trampling upon me by an ignoble triumph at my death that will sully the credit and tarnish all the glory of his life While Artaban expressed himself in this manner I was half drowned in my own tears which the sad contexture of his language and the deplorable estate wherein I beheld him drew away from my eies in great abundance and though his reproaches offered me some cause of exception I easily pardoned all to his grief and assured my self they were the off-spring of a belief that I had willingly dispos'd my self by the conquest of all my repugnance to espouse Tigranes If I could safely have trusted my justifications in that place as it was then peopled I had quickly cured him of his errour and indeed I that had been the source of all his misfortunes could not owe less to that gallant man whom I then saw ready to perish for my sole interest I durst not give him my thoughts at their full proportion and yet I was unwilling to keep all under hatches that my heart had for him supposing those that heard us would partly conjecture pity to be the parent of that which indeed was the child of affection encouraged by these thoughts and regarding him with more passion than
who without measuring danger either by the number or force of those he encountred had made it his custome to charge all that came near him the combat was begun by the Pirates and their shock sustained by our men with a great deal of resolution my ignorance will not let me describe you the fight in parts but Madam shall I give you a short list of my resentments at that present indeed I cannot chuse but tell you that the detestation I still cherished of the very thought to espouse Tigranes and the grief I took for Artaban's misfortunes had left me so little care or love of life as I can hardly say that death looked ugly enough to affright me and if I may assume the liberty to undisguise my criminal thoughts without a reserve I think Artaban's danger was attended with as large a portion of my fears as those that regarded my proper safety In the mean time an interchanged cloud of arrows rained upon both parties the Pirates quickly found a resistance that made them wish the danger unattempted and certainly the advantages they got had cost them a great deal more blood if Orestes as if those famous Arms had refused to do service to their Masters Enemy had not been tumbled dead at the feet of his men by some of the first blows that were struck in the Combat and my conductor Polinices with one of the Median Embassadors suddenly acquitted by divers mortal wounds of the the care to obey their Masters Commission The Death of their Commanders distributed a terrour among the common Souldiers which froze up those Courages that were so hot as the Fights beginning and losing all hope of victory they disputed it so poorly as the Pirates almost had it in possession when they least suspected it They were upon point to board our Vessels wherefore the Decks were then but very faintly defended when inspired with a thought that deafen'd me to the threats of of danger I boldly step'd upon the Deck and heightning my voice that I might be understood by those in Orestes Vessel My friends cryed I if you desire safety or wish victory they are only to be had from the hands of Artaban ease him of those irons that will not suffer him to succour you give him but arms for your own defence and hope for all from his valour that man can do when he once fights at the head of you These words succeeded to my wishes for since Orestes death Artaban had no more Enemies left in the Vessel the Parthians that adored his vertue whom the sole authority of Orestes inforced to keep him captive that had so often taught them the art of overcoming no sooner saw themselves at liberty to restore him his but they ran down in throngs to release him and even envied his own Squire the glory of putting the first hand to take off his Irons while the overjoy'd young man was doing this office to his dear Master others hastily employed themseves in stripping Orestes carkass of those arms he had unworthily usurped and Arno sooner saw his chains unlocked when he felt his manly limbs reinvested in the same armour that had faithfully served him in so many victories and when his warlike dress was compleated lifting up his sword and voice with a fierce cry My friends said he in exchange of this freedom you have given me I do here promise to requite you with victory As he brought forth these words he flew before them at the audacious Ephialtes that had newly boarded the vessel and by that bold act provok'd his fate for the furious Artaban darting himself upon him with a sorce and swiftness like that of Lightning prevented his design with a deadly thrust which finding a default in his Arms pierced him quite through the body when after he had reeled two or three paces backward he fell dead into his own Ship The death of Ephialtes congeal'd the courages of his men but the following actions of Artaban quickly stifled all their hopes of victory and as if there secretly lodg'd a fatality in his Sword to all that opposed him he carried it to no part of the fight wherein he did not cut down Enemies in heaps and change the fortune of both parties with a prodigious promptitude the actions he performed with his own hands his admirable conduct and the strong belief the Parthians had entertained that his valour was invincible brought forth such marvellous effects as in less than one quarter of an hour the Pirates changed their design of assaulting their Enemies to defending themselves and prospered so ill in that too as in less than another they beheld their Ships covered with their fellows carkasses and the Sea painted with their blood So soon as Artaban had chas'd out those Pirates that invaded his Vessel he leap'd into mine and there it was I saw him do things in my defence that would make an Infidel of the easiest credulity In fine the victory became entirely ours the greater part of the Pirates lost their lives two of their Ships were taken and the rest saved themselves by flight or rather by the small regard we took to pursue them Artaban contrary to the Parthians inclinations gave the Prisoners their lives but he left all the booty to the Souldiers and commanded divers of the Pirates into our Vessel to serve in the places of those Mariners that we had lost in the combat Thus after he had set the face of order upon all things that haste would permit him he ran to me all covered with blood in a posture that had half affrighted me if he had not taken off his Casque as he threw himself at my feet and discovered his face wherein me thought the heat of combat had disclosed some new beams of masculine beauty that I never saw there before at least my fancy was so deeply inchanted with that apprehension as it degarded my judgment so far to let the Medes and Parthians then present see me throw my arms about the neck of the kneeling Artaban and lean my head upon his with an action so tenderly passionate as at this very confession of my weakness I feel the warm blood is come into my cheeks to accuse me Madam I will not trouble your patience with the repetition of those disorder'd words that Artaban and I exchanged at that point of time and indeed they were too full of confusions to deserve recital and if his liberty gave him some satisfaction I was so ravished with joy to see him in so different a condition to that he appeared in but a few hours before as I could not express my contentment better than in shewing by a few disjoynted words that I could not express it In fine after I had raised him from his knee and presented him to the Parthians Well Parthian said I do you judge Artaban worthy to return to his chains or enjoy his part of that liberty his valour has given you if you have done
a time quitted the greatest part of our cares and after Artaban had caused the Vessels to be cleansed of the bloud that defiled them and the dead bodies to be buried in the Sea we disposed our Canvas to accept the favourable breath of a wind that blew towards the shoar of Iberia where we were first to land Madam it is not necessary to tire you with the recital of a tedious voyage In short we traversed the Caspian Sea to the Port we intended and there providing such things as were requisite for our journey by Land we passed by the foot of mount Caucasus saw the Sarmatique Ports and having crossed Iberia and Colchis we re-imbarqued and passing through the Euxine Sea with three Vessels that we hired spread our sails for the Coast of Affrick Alas how treacherous was the tranquility of the winds and waves how short lived the quiet of our spirits it seems the Gods had not freed us from a foregoing misery with any other intent than to plunge us in a greater or rather the deepest that ever imagination sounded Poor Artaban thy valour only served to prolong thy misfortunes and wretched Elisa the Gods only brought some ease to thine with a purpose to exquisite the sense of thy last calamities The forth night after we imbarqued was already well advanced when the mutinous waves began an insurrection abetted by the most raging tempest that ever frighted a Pilot all the winds declared themselves against our safety the waves flew up as if they had taken up the Giants quarrel to storm Heaven again and the danger became so dismal as the skilfullest heads and the hardiest hearts among us began to despair of life We had only three Ships in the company whereof two carried our Souldiers and the third only my self Artaban my women and the officers of my house a while they withstood the angry Elements without separation but in fine dispersed by the impetuous winds and drivâ—n to a large distance from each other without hope of rejoyning our Vessel was left alone to the mercy of those enraged flouds that flew upon us with a sensible encrease of fury A thousand Images of death presented themselves to our affrighted fancies but the unfortunate Artaban took all his fears upon my account and the care he had of my safety made him neglect his own in that manner as he seemed to let fall and disavow his title to wit his great courage was utterly unable to charm the pangs of his grief and he detested his own life because his uncharitable sorrow charged it with the guilt of destroying mine In the mean time the tempest roared every moment louder and at last raged to that extremity that our mast was broken and our ship reduced to the miserable obedience of being governed by the tyranny of Sea and fortune all my women were half dead with fear of death and the weakness of sex considered 't is easie to believe I felt my share in the common calamity but the inconsolable Artaban was all this while embracing my knees letting fall new floods of tears at my feet and offering the Gods with a prodigality of nobleness to die a thousand times over upon condition they would pity me and save my single life Thus we had spent two entire daies and a great part of the third night when the billows as if they had been tired with so violent a motion began to take a repose that let in a little glimmering of hope to Artaban and the Pilots I say a little for the storm had so miserably torn our Vessel as the forwardest among us could see but little more than a possibility of escape the ship drank water on all sides the mast and rudder were both broken and the Marriners forced all their skill now became ineffectual to refer themselves only to the courtesie of heaven for deliverance the rest of that night we were carried up and down at the uncontroled will of the winds and she had scarce begun to disband her shades when we descryed a great fire upon the water though this spectacle appeared very strange yet it lent us some rayes of comfort and our men took courage at that sight to employ all their strength and art to get our miserable Vessel nearer to a place where they expected to receive-some succour The daies arrival drowned a great part of that light in his own that out-shined it but by the aid of those clearer beams we received objects at a truer dimension and the first that saluted our eies was presently known by the Pilot for the stately Alexandria The comfortable sight of this City perfected some half-drawn hopes within us when in the midst of our toil to get near the fire we beheld two ships of war make towards us to oppose our passage and having laid us aboard on both sides they commanded us to yield Artaban unused to be overcome by words quickly got into his Arms and presented himself upon the deck like a man resolved to sell his liberty but he was followed by none but his own Squire and of all those that wore the faces of men in our Vessel there was scarce one beside himself that had a heart undismayed at the number of our Enemies I was terribly affrighted at the sight of Artaban's rashness and believing unless stopped in time it would infallibly cost him his life I commanded him to render himself as well because it was as utterly hopeless that he alone should maintain the Combat against five or six hundred armed men as likely by a perverse resistance he would provoke the cruelty of our enemies upon us who if we set the face of submission upon our miseries might perhaps be drawn to some compassion the fear to involve mine in his own destruction gave a sudden birth to his obedience and he had no sooner let fall the point of his Sword when our Ship grappled on both sides was become full of Enemies in an instant at the sight of me their Captain let fall some signs of respect but the faces of him and some of his men were no sooner discerned by those Pirates we had taken to supply their places in our vessel that we lost in the last Combat who with the rest of our people had followed us all our land voyage with outward pretence of obligation and acknowledgment for the mercy and mild usage they received at our hands though indeed with an intent very different but running to him with loud cries Ah my Lord said they ah Zenodorus See the cruel man that has made us his slaves defeated your forces and killed your Nephew Ephiastes with his own hand These words spread the face of Zenodorus with a trouble that presaged a fatal effect and regarding Artaban acrosse Is this the man said he that slaughtered my forces and murdered Ephiastes the Pirates confirmed their language with loud exclamations and Zenodorus no longer doubting the truth Let him die said he let the butcher of
other object he felt his grief and anguish too weak to take off his eyes from the deep study of some old Ideas which that young face by the help of a natural instinct awaked in his memory Eteocles not exempted from such thoughts as these being got on horseback near the young unknown fell greedily to examine his features or rather to devour them at the eyes which observed by Caesario confirmed his opinion that he had not mistaken that face when his conjectures told him 't was not a total stranger to his knowledge As they were taking the glad account of these thoughts which yet they had not mutually imparted they arrived at the house where the young Gallant and the Lady were attended by some domestick Servants who in obedience to their commands received the Son of Caesar with a grand respect and served him with a great deal of care and affection he had not been long in bed before some Chirurgions they had sent for to the City arrived and presently searcht his wounds which they found very great but not mortal owning no other danger of the Princes life than what might be imputed to his loss of blood the two fair ones gave a glad welcome to these hopes of Caesario's recovery and imposed a care upon themselves to see him diligently served with all circumspection He was no sooner left alone with Eteocles but he asked him a hundred questions in a throng and whatever caution that loyal servant intended for his Masters health he could have no quiet till he had related all that befel the Queen since he first trusted her to his charge till her last surptizal it was well Eteocles had not seen the face of Zenodorus nor known it was he that carried Candace away for if the Prince had understood that she was faln again into the same rude hands that had stormed her honour so violently not all his wounds and weakness could have kept him from presently spending the miserable remains of his life to the last sigh in her succour he first began to hunt for comfort in the height of his unconquered courage capable to make good his defiance against the cruellest attacques of Fortune thence did his thoughts recur to the memory of those perils which Heaven against all appearing possibility had so often helped him to overcome and from this last consideration he learned to trust some hopes of Candace's safety to the same goodness besides these the anguish of his wounds did a little dull the sense of his inward sufferings and at last his Feaver became so violent as it scarce left him any judgement to reason with his misfortunes this inforced his obedience to the Chirurgions orders and the good Eteocles more passionately desirous of his Masters dure than he that wanted it that might oblige him silence resolved to answer him no more while some of the first days past away in this manner his beautiful entertainers discreetly paid him their visits at such seasons when their courtesie might not disturb him so shon as the remission of his malady gave them leave to see and discourse with him oftner they let fall no occasion to be civil and there were very few hours in the day wherein either the fair Lady or the handsome stranger were not still by his bed-side to keep him company without discerning the reason they felt a secret impulse of extraordinary affection one towards another and if in the manly and majestick mind of Caesars Son the noble youth met charms that taught respect and ingaged affection Caesario made himself acquainted with some resemblances in his that besides the obligation he received had got a very kind entertaiment in his heart they were both pain'd with an equal desire to know each other but because he had already try'd it upon Eteocles in vain discretion bridled the young mans curiosity and Caesario contented himself to be indebted to him for his life without naming a request that might oppress his civility yet at last he could not over-master some motions of tenderness that carried him beyond circumspection and as his suspitions were stronger and his conjectures grounded upon clearer appearances than any the unknown could frame to excuse his curiosity he was the first that ventured to put his desire into words and one day perceiving him near his bed where he still carefully rendered him such offices as are seldom found in so young a friendship after his eye had seriously perused his face Sir said he 't is just I should content my self with the knowledge that my life has lately been the gift of your nobleness without steping farther into fresh obligations or hastily exacting younger proofs of your bounty especially being newly laden with others so great and weighty but besides that Natures law injoyns all mankind to court the acquaintance of those that have ingag'd us methinks I see somewhat in your person that by a particular interest has inflamed me with another kind of curiosity than I ever yet resented if therefore my request be not too unwellcome pray let me know to whom I am indebted for my life and yet I had rather sit down unsatisfied than ever offer you the trouble of changing any resolution to keep your self concealed The young Cavalier that burned with an equal desire to Caesario's tenderly embrac'd that occasion to content him and willing to ingage the Prince by the insinuation of a free confidence to a requital by a like discovery Sir said he I shall not offend truth in affirming that I never felt a stronger passion in my life than to obtain the same favour from your self you demand for besides that I have taken an impression from your looks of something in you that is very great and sublime methinks I descry some resemblances there that time has not totally wiped away from my memory which do equally beget and awake within me the sense of a high respect and a tender love to your person I shall gladly know when you are pleased to reveal it for whose sake it is I have so suddenly conceived them in the mean time for you I shall get an easie victory upon my repugnance in breaking the design to keep my self concealed from other persons I am called Alexander Son to the infortunate Antony and the great Queen Cleopatera and born in the first year of their marriage at the same birth with my Sister the Princess Cleopatra Caesario confirmed by these words that had not guess'd awry was almost extasy'd with an intemperate joy and all those passionate workings of the soul that ever bubled the secret sympathy of blood at such encounters did then powerfully possess themselves of his with an excess of tenderness prompted then by the ripened beauties of his dear brother at the same moment did he call to mind what they were in their blossoms while they were brought up together in their age of Innocence at the Court of Alexandria nor had a ten years seperation spread
so great a change upon his visage that he could not easily retrive those first marks of his Infant beauty Alexander had a harder game to play in his discovery for besides that Caesario's complexion by reason of his residence in the broyling climate of Aethiopia must needs suffer a greater alteration than Alexanders could do at Rome they were divided at a time when Caesario's fancy was far stronger to retain the images of things than his brothers that wanted four or five years of his age besides his memory drew another disadvantage from the general report of Caesario's death and therefore no wonder if his aims were made unsteady by a supposed impossibility of ever seeing him again In these agitations of Natures raising in his spirit the son of Caesar had all the pain in the world to restrain himself and how strongly soever he held the bridle of his passion he could not hold in these words How said he are you Alexander Son to Anthony and Cleopatra Which again confirmed by the young Prince he was ready to reveal himself and throw up his arms to give and receive such Caresses as were mutually due on both sides when some other considerations stept in to stop the passage of that freedom and defer his discovery for a few days longer Eteocles that had kept his affection like Religion to the memory of his royal Mistress and her illustrious family and no sooner heard the name of Alexander but in the loyal heat of his transport was ready to throw his imbraces about him yet prudence checked his passion with a strong hand till he saw which way Caesario would bend his behaviour but collecting from his carriage that he had no intent to make himself known so suddenly he composed his own by that pattern that he might not slack his Masters resolution Caesario for a time kept a fixed eye upon his Brothers face and pressed his hand with a great deal of ardour at last said he Indeed you are sprung from a royal stock that for many weighty reasons I must ever honour I cannot hear the names of Anthony and Cleopatra and not bow my heart in reverence to their memories within a few days I shall give you some particular reasons why I mention them in this manner and undisguise you my birth and fortunes with the whole story of my unhappy life whereof some important considerations forbid me now to tell you any more that I am called Cleomedon Alexander unwilling to press him farther for fear of disobliging I will wait the time your pleasure shall prefix said he for a clearer declaration and perhaps the free and reserved relation I intend you of my life may purchase from you a greater confidence to trust me with yours but if the request might not importune you I would gladly demand if you be the same Cleomedon whose reputation is arrived among us and the same that in a few of these latest years for the Aethiopian Crown has done such great actions and gained so many famous Victories in Nubia The report of those inconsiderable things I did there reply'd Cleomedon could never have come so far if Fame in the publishing had not adulterated the truth with some of her own additions but 't is true I am Cleomedon that in the Queen of Aethiopia's service did make war and got some battels against the Rebels in Nubia do not use me so hardly to think that any distrust of you can perswade me to keep a drawn Curtain betwixt us if I were not strictly forbidden by some strong reasons which you your self will not disapprove when you once understand them I would open my heart unto you as my proper brother and when I may safely give my self leave to appear to you without a mask I shall acquaint you with things that will challenge your astonishment and I hope shew you cause to confirm me that affection which is yet the only gift of an unmerited nobleness Alexander that in his Travels had every where met with the high voiced renown of Cleomedon's actions regarded him as a person extraordinary and the fair Lady that had all this time been present at their parley gave him all the respects which the bruit of his vertue that had likewise travelled it self through the Country where she was born made her believe he had right to Caesario who had cause to think he never saw any face Candace's only excepted that equalled hers in beauty kept his eyes fastned upon her visage in a posture that expressed his astonishment and by degrees reviving things in his remembrance that had long layn gasping there he sensibly began to fancy some lineaments in that face he had seen before this apprehension quickly raised an unquiet dispute in his thoughts and he had concluded her to be the Princess Cleopatra if an imperfect retention of his Sisters air and aspect very different from those had not prevented that opinion besides he saw Alexander's behaviour carried a great respect and a deep observance to the Lady far distant from that freedom and familiarity which such a nearness of blood might allow Alexander that had heedfully traced the several steps of his eye was resolved to unshadow all to his curiosity as well to make known by the entire reposal of such a secret how highly he esteemed him as to offer a fair invitation of requital again in the same nature and after he had turned towards the Lady in a posture that seemed to ask her permission of what he had to say I see said he you have met something in my words that you think very strange and if report has exactly told you of my birth and education you cannot but wonder to see me in this Equipage in the train of this beautiful Princess in a Country that though it be my native soil is now to me grown as forraign as any other in the Roman Dominion in a private melancholy house and in fine in a condition that implies some extraordinary events in my fortune but if my Lady pleases to licence the relation I will give you a single survey of every link as it hangs upon the chain of my story and render you a precise account of the weightiest and most estimable accidents of my life If Cleomedon thinks replyed the Princess that a discourse of this nature can deceive or infensate his pains I shall be very unwilling to oppose it and though you cannot give it him entirely continued she with a delicate composition of smiles and blushes in her cheeks without recounting some passages that I have cause to fear may purchase me his censure I have too little repentance for what I have done not to suffer the recital without displeasure provided it may sweeten his with any allay or mitigation Caesario's sick mind and feeble body might well have excused his refusal of a long attention to the story of a strangers fortunes but the interest he took in that noble Brothers caused him for some moments
divert him from his design if he had heard them without passion but he could hardly endure the discourse and looking with an evil eye upon those who uttered it There must be said he other perswasions than yours to make me change my resolution and all the considerations upon earth will scarcely be able to do it the judgements of my neighbours and of all the world besides are all of small importance to me so I satisfie my self and they who shall understand that I have revenged the cruel injury done to our family by the blood of Anthony 's son and appeased my Fathers Ghost which still cries out against his murtherers they will find less cruelty in that action than pity and respect to the memory of my Father Augustus himself cannot but approve of it when he calls to mind that Artibasus was his Ally and that it was partly for his interests that his Enemies put him to death and because the sollicitations of Alexander 's kindred may possibly oblige him to intercede for his safety by the speedines of the execution I will prevent the request he may make upon that account and I will not put my self in danger either to disoblige Caesar by refusing what he shall demand or grant him a thing which no power but his nor possibly his neither should ever obtain of me In these terms he declared his intention and the mean while to render himself the less odious to Caesar he was willing to observe some formality and shadow of justice in his revenge and commanded they should make my Process not only as I was the Son of Anthony but as an enemy who was come disguised into his Court and had continued there a great while with the designs against his State and life Artemisa hearing of this precipitation was so troubled at it that she continued a long time not knowing what counsel to take and after she had in vain essayed to prevail with her brother by their Prayers whom he loved best she resolved to hazard her own finding no repugnance which might hinder her from rendring what she thought was due to that she loved She visited the King in his Privy-Chamber where she had never been since the words he spake to her that day I was taken and finding him in a condition to hearken to her Sir said she though I have seemed and perhaps may still seem suspicious to you yet I will make no difficulty to implore your pity for Alexander's safety and to represent to you that he is so innocent of the injury we received from his relations that you cannot lay the punishment of it upon him without making your self to be accused of a vice which eternally brands the memory of Kings I observe such stains in you replyed the King smartly interrupting her that you will never wash off whilst you live and if your interests which ought to be the same with mine were but as dear to you as the Enemy of your Family you would abandon him without doubt to wipe away our suspicions If he were innocent in Alexandria he is not so in Artaxata and it is a crime great enough in him to fix his love in a Family where he ought to expect nothing but hatred Sir answered the Princess I will confess whatsoever you shall please to accuse me of and if this confession may any way conduce to Prince Alexander's safety I will confess Sir that I love him more than my self I am possibly so much obliged to him that I may make this acknowledgment without fear of being blamed but all the affection I ever had for him could never draw me from the submission I owe to your pleasure and the Gods are my witnesses that I never had a thought to engage my self to any person but by your command O Gods cry'd Artaxus stopping two or three paces back what is this I here what Artemisa do you confess without blushing that you love Alexander I do love him Sir replyed the Couragious Princess and if my affection could have made me blush at the confession of it I should never have loved him I owe so much to the former compassion he had of our misfortune to the memory of Artemisa which he hath so dearly preserved and to the danger whereinto he is come to throw himself for love of me that except I were insensible to all things I cannot be so to his affection yet the Gods know and I protest to you before them that he always passed for Alcippus in my thoughts as well as in yours and after I knew him to be Alexander I never spake to him but only that day he was taken and the end of my discourse then was only to command him to retire the interest I have in his misfortune as being the sole cause of it tenders me passionate for his safety and makes me hope I shall obtain it of your Majesty if you render Artemisa's welfare I loved Artemisa answered the barbarous Prince as long as she was worthy of my friendship but now that she prefers the amity of my enemy before mine I cannot look upon her but as my enemy With these words he left her without any farther hearkning to her and went into a chamber by leaving her full of confusion and mortally afflicted her grief was observed in her countenance by all those who saw her retire to her apartment and when she was at liberty to express it she did it in such a manner as made all her maids that were near her melt into tears of compassion Cruel man said she thou needest pronounce but one sentence to rid thy self of two enemies at once and at one blow thou wilt finish the destiny of the Son of Anthony and the Daughter of Artibasus that heart of thine which is unaccessible to pity may satiate it self with a more entire revenge by destroying together with Alexander that which he loves better than himself and thy zeal will appear much greater in revenging our father's death when in shedding a strangers bloud thou hast not spared thine own She spent part of the day in these complaints and in the evening Narcissus having sent her word by Leucippe that he had prevailed with one of my Keepers and if she had any thing to impart to me she might do it with confidence she joyfully embraced the opportunity of writing to me what was upon her heart In the mean time if I were afflicted and suffered much in my imprisonment it was more than any thing else for the displeasure I had neither to see nor to hear from her my two Squires were permitted to serve me in the prison but they had not the liberty to go out and Narcissus who without had not permission to see me neither did he dare to appear there for fear of being surprized and so made unserviceable to me Being ignorant as I was of all that passed I knew not yet whether I ought to complain of Artemisa or commend her and I
unto you my Name my Birth and whatsoever you shall desire to know touching my life and this great Prince continued he pointing to Coriolanus whose intentions he was acquainted with though a great danger attend upon his discovery in these Countreys will not refuse to disclose himself unto you in hope that you will afford the same satisfaction to his desire No certainly replyed the Prince of Mauritania and if his curiosity be equal to mine there is nothing so secret in my life which I will not willingly acquaint him with to lay the same obligation upon him The Unknown receiving the discourse of the two Princes with very great civility You desire a thing said he to them not worthy of your curiosity and wherein I can satisfie you without throwing my self into greater dangers than those whereunto I am reduced by my ill Fortune I could wish to hazard and suffer something in that which you require of me to acknowledge your bounties by some more difficult proof of my obedience than that you desire but in the condition whereinto I am precipitated by my misfortune I have no reason to fear the acknowledgement of my Name nor any other danger than what I am already fallen into The Unknown was about to have enlarged himself if Coriolanus to keep himself to the proposition they had made him had not stay'd him It is just said he unto him that we should first acquit our selves of the promise we have made you and afterwards we will not refuse to understand from you if you please what may give us satisfaction With these words he told him his Name and that of Tyridates with a small abridgement of their fortunes by which the Unknown to whom the reputation of either was not altogether strange comprehended sufficient to make him judge that he could scarcely find in the rest of the world two Princes more worthy of his respect and affection The same of the grand actions which the Son of Juba had done as well for the service of the Empire as for the recovery of his own Kingdom had reached the places where he had passed his life and the virtue of Tyridates which of it self alone was able to attract the esteem of all men was accompanied with a birth wherein the Unknown had great interest when he had patiently attended the discourse of Coriolanus regarding him as a great King and as a Prince a thousand times greater by his Virtue than by his Birth Sir said he unto him the glory of our actions is so great that a man must needs have passed his life in places more obscure than those which gave me Birth to have learned the name of Coriolanus the Son of Juba without being partly instructed in what is due unto him the sublime appearance of your person and that which I have found remarkable in your valour and generosity to my cost and in my favour had begun powerfully to perswade me what your discourse hath finished And you O Arsacian Prince continued he addressing himself to Tyridates besides what mine eyes and the fame of the great things you have done of which the relation came to us hath given me to know of your Vertue you are born of a bloud which obliges the whole earth and particularly this unfortunate which speaks to you hath great considerations for you He uttered these words pressing one of the hands of Tyridates between his own with a mark of extraordinary affection and a little after seeing that the Princess having received the praises which he gave them with exceeding modesty expected from him the effect of those hopes he had given them I am sorry said he unto them that I cannot acknowledge the confidence you have testified unto me by something great and worthy of you and that for the knowledge you have given me of a great King and a great Prince I can render you only that of a private man of a man hardly born of noble bloud and of a man whose Name had never been known if Fortune as great an enemy of his as she is had not given him occasion to do things remarkable enough and which possibly have given him some repute And so it is that you may sooner learn what I am by the relation of my life than by the discovery of my Name and possibly you may find therein accidents worthy your attention above what an ordinary extraction may make you expect He made a stop at these words to recall to memory the most remote accidents of his life and after that he had put himself into a condition to make a long discourse without incommodating himself and that those who had undertaken the cure of him had assured the Princess that he might take this pains without endangering his health he began the History of his life in these terms The History of the Unknown THe Heavens Nature and whatsoever concurs to the production of men sometimes regulates their Birth and inclinations by an order which would make the Supreme Providence to be called in question if it did not operate by reasons which surpass our knowledge and the capacity of our understanding Oftentimes Princes extracted from the greatest Kings of the earth have come into the world with inclinations very mean and less conformable to their Birth than to that of their Slaves and sometimes in persons of an ordinary Birth the Gods have planted a courage elevated above their Fortune and an ambition which would more justly agree with the conditions of great Princes than with low or mean Fortunes I have made an infallible experiment thereof in my self and that Heaven which hath made me behold the day without any of those advantages which are drawn from Crowns or a long succession of Ancestors hath made me to be born with a courage which is alwayes elevated to highest Pretensions which hath never failed upon any consideration and which by an errour which possibly may be condemned hath alwayes perswaded me that by my sword which I have often drawn with success I might equal my self with Princes and that I should find none greater than my self among men except he were more valiant and more vertuous If this immoderate presumption hath engaged me in actions which may possibly have acquired me some repute in the places where I have passed my life it hath likewise exposed me to disasters as great as my pretensions and I begin to acknowledge that what I attributed to the injustice and ingratitude of men hath proceeded from the hands of the Gods who to humble a courage unsubduable by reason and a just apprehension have served themselves with ingrateful men and enraged elements and all things which might reduce my spirit within the bounds which by my Birth they seem to have prescribed to my ambition My Father was born in Gaul of noble extraction as he hath told me and more I never knew neither did I ever see the Countrey from whence I draw my original nor any other of
authority to yield up a place to him which my heart had chosen and a place which I had infallibly conserved if my power had never so little seconded my courage What said I shall I flie then for him and shall I by him be ever banished from the sight of Candaee must I needs submit to a cruel tyranny because my birth was unfortunate and because I am more weak in power than Cleomedon must I needs beare to no purpose an heart as great as Cleomedons Shall this Sword wherewith I have began to exact satisfaction for my injuries and which for its first essay hath possibly shed the most noble blood of the world hang unprofitably by my side and not desend me from the last offence that is prepared for me I shall go exiled I shall goe banished to search out retreats and sanctuaries far from Candace whilst my insolent enemy may possibly stay near her and shall not all my courage be able to preserve me from this unjust and cruel oppression Ah my Birth ah my Fortune what Enemies are you unto me and how little conformable are you to my resentments which shall eternally complain of you To these first discourses which my love produced succeeded the memory of the indignities I suffered and the scorn of Candace whose thoughts were conformable to those of the King his Father who as well as he blamed my insolence and visited Cleomedon every day whilest his wounds detained him in his bed without once informing her self of the estate of mine The despite I hence resented was necessary to dispose me to quit Ethiopia and without that the fear of any hurt they could do me would never have been capable to make me for ever abandon the sight of that I loved They dispise thee said I they accuse thee of presumption they never so much as ask whether thou beest alive or no and canst thou feel any regret to separate thy self from these ingrateful persons which disdain thee The King who at first thought he saw something extraordinary in thee treats thee now as the vilest of all men he shamefully banishes thee his dominions and hardly leaves thee thy life at the request of thine enemy and Candace to whom thou hast given an heart and a life possible as worthy of her as that of a Prince dis-esteems thee for default of thy birth and fortune and suffers thee to be banished from her service and her Father's Territories without making one single petition to him in thy favour Ah Britomarus rouze thy self from that sottishness wherein thy blind passion hath intangled thee Remember thy self that thou art not born for contempt and that thou art possibly called to occasions of glory whereby thou mayest merit other kind of usage from persons as high as these which disdain thee make them know that they never rightly knew thee and make them one day repent that they stay'd upon salse appearances and did not know to discern a vertue more worthy of their esteem Thou shalt find abroad else where better conditions than in this Enemy-country where thou hast abandoned thy liberty and if the Gods will favour thy courage thou art born without doubt to greater things than those to which thou hast given the beginnings of thy life make thy self equal to Cleomedon by this sword which thou hast drawn against him and when thou shalt have attained to what thy heart makes thee hope for return to dispute against him not Candace who dispises thee not the favour of Hidaspes who treats thee unworthily but the glory which he would ravish from thee by the injuries he hath done thee These thoughts coming again into my mind fortified themselves there at last in such sort that all the powers of Candace were not able to resist them and after a great combat if I could not entirely banish her out of my mind yet by the resentments which rendred themselves equal to the love I had for her I disposed my self to abandon her without regret or at least to vanquish what might remain by the memory of her scorn and entirely to remove my thoughts to other employments and other objects than those which I could not call to mind without shame and displeasure With this resolution I parted from Meroe with my Father who would not leave me though he had liberty to stay and having laid the foundation of all his hopes in me alone was resolved to run my fortune through the whole earth He had found in my engagement with Cleomedon something of rash and presumptuous and he gave me at first a very sharp check for it but in fine as he had resentments truly generous and noble be could not absolutely condemn it and confirming himself by this action in the judgement he made of me Our fortune said he to me is too narrow for thee and Heaven would not be just if it hath not reserved something for thee more proportionable to thy courage He often used these words and others of the same nature to me sighing and expressing by his visage the displeasure he had to see so little conformity between my thoughts and my condition in all kind of occurrences he shewed me an ardent affection and lived with me as I thought with more consideration than Parents usually have for their children through the good opinion he had coneeived of me He gave me all the time I stay'd with him instructions worthy of the vertue which the world took notice of in him and pressed as much as was possible for him the imperuosity of my youth yet without debasing my courage which he saw with joy inclined to great matters But alas the instructions and consolations which I received from him were but of a shore continuance and it was with a very sensible grief that I saw my self deprived of him by an unexpected adventure Departing out of Ethiopia we visited a part of Arabia and I was detained in a little village by a slight indisposition when my Father attending my recovery was walking one day in the company of some inhabitants of the place where I was with whom he was acquainted was set upon by a troop of Arabians who were almost all Thieves and Vagabonds and carried away with some of those which were with him without my hearing any news of him Understanding his loss and being seised by a mortal grief I pursued after his Ravishers and I may say that there was hardly a place in all Arabia whither I bended not my steps with an intention either to perish or recover him who gave me birth But all my excursions were unprofitable and with them I lost all the hope I had conceived of seeing again a Father so dear and to whom I had so great obligations I will not recount unto you the regrets which this loss caused me for divers moneths and this relation will be to you as troublesome as unprofitable in relation to the knowledge which you desire of my life He had left at the
house where I was when he was carried away money and jewels of a very great price which remained in my power after his loss whereby I had means to defend my self from necessity in my travels and to put my self into an handsome equipage to go and seck occasions of acquiring glory in those places whither the fame of War invited me I coasted Syria I saw Mesopotamia and Assyria but finding these Countries at peace I contented my self to pass through them without staying there and I came at last into Armenia upon the report which was spread abroad concerning the preparations which the King of this Countrey made to carry War into Media I found the truth conformable to what I had heard and the young Artaxus boyling with revenge for the death of his Father who was said to have lost his life by the sollicitation of the King of the Medes Father to him whom he went to engage threw himself into his Territories with a puissant Army putting all to Fire and Sword I put my self in his Troops unknown and though my Equipage was handsome enough and that I had employed thereupon part of what my Father had left me being neither able nor willing to convert it to any other use than what might serve to signazile me I fought in person without any command in the first encounters I quickly got acquaintance with the Officers of the Army who sound something in my person worthy of their caresses and their amity and in a short time I was so fortunate that in the Battels which were fought I having done actions which they said were not ordinary amongst them the King upon the report which was made of them had a desire to see me I was presented unto him by the Officers with whom I had gotten acquaintance who commended me above the truth and the King after he had let me know that he esteemed me more than I could propably expect a little after gave me the command of two hundred horse This was my first employment and the Gods were pleased that I should succeed with so much good fortune that in less than two moneths by the favour of the King I saw my self in the head of a thousand horse in a condition to do something considerable and in hope of arriving quickly to higher preferments In the mean time I had so well endeavoured to banish the Image of Candace out of my mind that by the assistance of my resentments and my youth which had but imperfectly received the first impressions of love my spirit found it self free and dis-engaged sooner than I durst hope or if any Idea remained of it it gave me but very slight pains and despight daily sortifying it self in my heart weakned it in such sort that at last it was no longer in a condition to give any considerable traverse to my ambitious thoughts I am no longer said I I am no longer in thy fetters proud Princess which knowest not how to discern between vertue and fortune and which wouldst have treated me with blindness like to hers I am ashamed that I once gave thee so lightly this liberty which I should have better defended and though others possibly esteem it glorious to pass their whole life in thy service I cannot without blushing remember that I have given thee any moments of mine These were my real thoughts and by little and little I so perfectly rased her out of my Soul that ambition and the desire of glory remained there alone and made me entirely apply my cares and my desires to occasions of acquiring honour and of advancing my self so by my valour that I might see my self no more subjected to the injuries whereunto I had been exposed by my Fortune I had in this design all the good success I could desire and if that we owe to modesty did permit me to speak of my self as of another person I would say that the Armenians possibly never saw a man signalize himself amongst them by more advantag ous successes than those which ensued upon all occasions whereupon I was employed with the thousand horse which I commanded I divers times cut in pieces far greater numbers of the enemy and the King permitting me through the inclination he perceived in me to go out often upon Parties I never returned back but loaden with the spoils and covered with the bloud of my Enemies and with all the marks of advantage he could desire of me Once our Enemy having charged part of our Infantry in a narrow passage I was sent with my small Body and I fought there with so good success that more than two thousand Medes remained dead upon the place the rest were put to flight and all their baggage with a good number of prisoners fell into our power Some daies after at a pass upon a River which our Enemies disputed with us I threw my self first into the River followed by a party of men and through the arrows which flew like hail having recovered the bank I charged the Enemies which defended it and amused them so that I gave leisure to all our Troops to pass after my example to reach the bank and obtain an absolute Victory By these petty actions I acquired great reputation in the Army and much esteem in the mind of the young King of Armenia who considered these things so much the more because I did them at an age wherein few persons had began to draw a Sword But his affection was much augmented by the success of a Battel which was fought near the City of Lussa whereof in part he gave me the glory and certain it is that with three thousand Horse which he gave me the command of that day I had the good fortune to rout the Enemy on all parts where I encountred them to save the lives of our principal Commanders and so opportunely with my un-engaged Body to succour all those which were in a condition of wanting relief that they ascribed to me more than to any other Commanders the advantage of this day which was entirely ours After this time Artaxus looked upon me as a person extraordinary he admitted me into his Council in so youthful an age as to appearance did little merit these advantages and he had advanced me to fair preferments in his Army Hitherto I did not only conserve but greatly augment the Reputation which I had gained and Fortune which at that time did interess her self in my glory would have it so that at the siege of a very important place which we had sate down before and for the succour whereof the King of Medes was advanced with his Army Tigranes to spare the bloud of his Subjects made an offer to Artaxus to decide the siege by a single Combate of one of his men against one of ours upon condition that if his Champion were conquered we should raise the siege and depart out of the Province and if the Victory happened upon our side the City besieged should
he saw him a few paces off approaching near his end upon the ground where he had poured out all his bloud This surcharge of displeasure awakened in him new thoughts of despair and hardly could he vanquish them by the last resolution he had taken Ah cruel Heaven cryed he being transported beyond his ordinary moderation by the violence of his grief O destinies without pity are ye not satisfied have ye any affliction left to throw upon this infortunate whom ye take for the mark of all your cruelties Ah too cruel Marcellus how sharply dost thou revenge the offence wherewith thou reproachest me in depriving me of the means to succour Cleopatra or to go and seek my death in the occasions of serving her Then he turned his eyes on every side uncertain what to do he was alone on foot covered with heavie arms ignorant of the way that his Enemies had taken and for his last hindrance the day was shutting in and darkness began to spread it self over the Earth The Prince after he had ruminated a while believed at last that the shortest and surest way for his design was to return to Tyridates his house which according to his judgement could not be far from that place where he might find horses and other arms and men to accompany him in his pursuit After he had taken this resolution he returned himself that way which he believed was the shortest to bring him to the house Since his departure thence Tyridates and his two guests had passed the day there in less violent employments than his although they were tormented with the same passions and the courteous Prince of the Parthians had spent the better part of it in the entertainment of the two wounded strangers He had endeavoured upon this design to vanquish the redoublings of his sadness which had seized upon him by reason of some evil passages and fearful dreams which had persecuted him all the night and striving to dissemble in part the effects which they had produced in his mind he had rendred his first visit to the valiant Britomarus whom for his admirable qualities he respected and caused to be served with extraordinary considerations he had without doubt engaged him in the pursuance of his history according to his promise if the King of Mauritania whom he would not deprive of his part of this satisfaction had been present and if he had not feared to create him the trouble of making the relation twice yet he put him in mind of it that he might be prepared at the Princes return and after he had entertained some time with him he passed into the Chamber who came at last he found him in a good condition as to his health and his hurts were neither great nor dangerous but his soul suffered cruel inquietudes which were remarkable in his discourse and in his countenance His two men which he had sent to seek for were come of whom he retained one only to serve him and had sent away the other with Commissions which he had given him Upon the hopes he made him have of the success of his enjoyment he had reposed himself a little and he was newly awaked from a short sleep when Tyridates entred his Chamber That which they had learned each of other concerning their Birth obliged them to treat each other with respect and Tiridates being approached near the bed of the Unknown enquired of him concerning his health with all manner of civility and sweetness The Unknown as fierce as he was of his own nature could not look upon the continuation of Tyridates his bounties whom he know to be a Prince without testifying to him some acknowledgment of them and when he was sate down by his bed-side I am in a pretty good condition said he in respect of those evils whereof by your officious cares I may receive remedy but as for them which depend upon the Gods or Fortune I find my self far enough from the cure of them I would replyed Tyridates it lay in my power to yield as much ease to the disquiets of your mind as you have received in relation to your bodily hurts and I would spare nothing that should be in my power for the service of a person whom I judge by many marks to be of â— very sublime condition My Birth and Rank are great enough replyed the Unknown and if I knew to whom I spake and from whom I have received so great assistance after you have laid the obligation upon me I shall make no difficulty to give you a perfect knowledge of it I know you are are a Prince continued he taking Tyridates by the hand but I am ignorant both of your name and the blood whereof you are descended and you will add not a little to the good offices you render me if by informing me plainly to whom I am reduable you will give me the means to open my heart unto you and to acquaint you not only with my name and birth but also with the adventures which put me into a condition of having need of your succour Tyridates had no design to discover himself to this Unknown and the cruel intentions of his Brother were reasons great enough for him to conceal himself but in the condition whereunto he was reduced his life was little valued by him and in respect of any thing that had been more important to him he hardly could have denyed that which the Unknown earnestly requested He continued some time without replying and then of a sudden fixing his eyes upon his face There are but few Persons said he to whom I would make my self known if I were in love with my life but I have too much regard to your desire and too much desire my self to obtain the same thing of you not to grant you that which you demand of me my name is Tyridates I am Son of the unfortunate Orodes King of the Parthians and Brother to the cruel Phraates who at this time weilds the Scepter of that great Monarchy The Unknown at these words looking upon Tyridates with greater attention than before and with some marks of astonishment What said he are you the Prince Tyridates Brother to Phraates he who being persecuted and pursued by that cruel Brother hath sought for refuge in all the Courts of Asia I am the very same replyed Tyridates he which hath wandred these twelve years to beg retreating places and the same ended he with a sigh to whom the cruelty of his Brother hath created but the least of his misfortunes Is it possible replyed the Unknown that you being Tyridates should not mark some features in a face which was once familiar unto you and that years should make such a change in yours as should hinder me from remembring it Certain it is replyed Tyridates that I find something in the tone of your voice rather than in your visage that is not altogether strange to me It should not be answered the Unknown neither will
for Artaxus could not hinder him from discovering some part of his thoughts I am sorry said he to him that I am constrained to displease you by the confession I am about to make and I profess that if your interests do forbid me to hear of the carrying away of the Princess your Sister with joy I cannot afflict my self with you to see Alexander escape from the punishment you had prepared for him He was altogether innocent of your displeasures and the Gods which are interessed in his protection would not permit that a life free from any crime should suffer the punishment which they themselves had inflicted upon the culpable Alexander replyed Artaxus was not innocent in my thoughts after the Oath I had made seeing he was the Son of Cleopatra neither was he so in effect seeing he came into my dominions with designs whereof he hath made one part appear and would have put the other in execution if Heaven which watches for the preservation of Kings had not prevented the effects by the knowledge which it gave me of my disguised enemy However it be mark the sequel and admire at the capriciousness of my fortune in the relation I am about to make you All expression would be too weak to make you comprehend the displeasure I resented by the double injury I received in the flight of Alexander and Artemisa Theogenes the companion of the traitorous Sarpedon was the first that received the punishment either of his weakness in suffering himself to be abused or of his infidelity in consenting to their escape and few of all those that were apparently suspected escaped the justice which I caused to be executed upon them These testimonies of my grief were publick but the secret effects which it produced in my heart were yet more contrary to my repose and possibly no mind was ever agitated with more violence than mine Whilst those whom I sent in pursuit of my two fugitives ranged up and down the Country in vain I was tormented with despight which had almost carried me to extremities against my self and I had not one moments sleep but what was interrupted by my cruel disquiets What said I in Artaxata in my prisons upon the point of being sacrificed to my just vengeance doth the Son of Cleopatra alone disarmed without the assistance of any of his Friends not only escape my Justice and deprive me of the pleasure and the glory of having rendred to my Father's Ghost part of what was due to it but together with his life he robs me of my onely Sister and aggravates the displeasures which we have received from his race by the last outrage he doth to ours Is it not enough for this audacious Enemy to be born of the cruel murtherers of my Father but that he must needs come into my Dominions to redouble my resentments by the only injury he could do me and that he must have good success in so bold a design at the instant that his neck was stretched out under the axe and when I thought that all the power of man was not capable of guarding him from it But O Gods that which I am most sensible of is that my own relations contribute to my grief and Heaven in causing the rest of my family to perish hath left me a Sister onely to make her serve as an instrument to my shame by her own and it must needs be that in the Royal house of Armenia there must be found a Princess base enough to abandon the interests of her blood and to abandon her self to the Son of the executioners of her Father Ah! at least if this perfidious Ariadne might find in the person of her suborner an unfaithful Theseus by whom Heaven might revenge me of her Treason I should receive no small consolation if the young deceiver should leave her exposed in some desart and savage Isle or rather O ye Gods that by your indignation they might both perish in the waves how would my grief be eased and how heartily would I forgive fortune part of the injuries that she hath done me But O unworthy as I am said I to my self a little after why do I expect from my Enemies why do I look for that from the Destinies which are against me that which I ought to seek for and find in my self alone It is Artaxus himself who is called to carve out his own revenge it is by Artaxus himself that it must be executed he must pursue himself both his unfaithful Sister and the young Seducer and go kill them both in those places where they have sought their refuges For by the memory of this affront the repose of his life will be eternally crossed and he cannot pass it either with honour or pleasure as long as his Enemies triumph over him so many ways whilest he hath made no attempt to satisfie himself This thought did not lightly pass out of my mind it fixed it self there so strongly that at last I resolved upon it and after I had considered that I could receive no reparation from Augustus when I should make my complaints but what would come too late I took a firm resolution to pursue after my Enemies my self I pondered a long time with much irresolution upon the course I should take at first I would have armed all my forces but I knew not whither to conduct them and not doubting but Alexander and Artemisa were retired to Augustus I found my self too weak to pluck them thence by open force and I could not with any likelihood so much as suffer it to be propounded At last after I had sufficiently consulted I pitched upon a course somewhat extravagant but yet it seemed more agreeable to my mind and I resolved to part from Armenia unknown and with such an Equipage as might not render me suspected to seek out the Court of Augustus who made his Progress through Asia and if I could there meet with my fugitives as I did not doubt but I should I determined to destroy them both You will tell me that I must needs be animated with a very violent passion that could carry me to such extremities to abandon a Kingdom wherein by my absence great troubles might be raised to expose my self to vexations and dangers wherein I might probably find the death which I went to inflict upon others I will confess to you that I was yet more passionate and that to content my resentments I was capable of stronger resolutions At last I confirmed my self and in the space of one single day putting my most important affairs in some order as much as my passion would permit me I parted from Artaxata only with twenty horse carrying with me but this small number of my Servants which I had chosen out among the most affectionate and the most daring In this equipage after I was gone out of Armenia I crossed a part of Cilicia where I kept my self very private not being ignorant that by reason
may possibly answered Tyridates have found infidelity in some person whom you have loved but amongst those which have been the dearest to you the King of Mauritania who without doubt hath held one of the most eminent ranks in your friendship hath preserved his to you so inviolably that all humane considerations would not be capable to alter it in the least Ah Tyridates cryed Marcellus how are you abused 'T is Coriolanus only Coriolanus who hath deceived me and I find in the other person of whom I complain so much the less deceit than in Coriolanus because I less confided in her and though I was prepossessed with a passion for her which alwayes blinded me yet from the first proofs of her inconstancy I had cause to disoblige my self from her eternally On the other side Coriolanus let me say so much in reproach of that ungrateful man had so great obligations to me that I cannot comprehend how by base considerations they could be so easily defaced out of the mind of a Prince or of a man born only of a noble blood Tyridates could not forbear interrupting Marcellus with precipitation Marcellus said he to him You make me a discourse wherein I can comprehend nothing and I will engage my life and any thing yet more precious for the innocence of Coriolanus He hath without doubt been treacherously traduced to you rather than you betrayed by him and beside the knowledge I have received not long since of his admirable vertue by what I know of the particularites of his life I am very certain not only that he hath not forgotten your good offices but that in all his affairs he hath conserved his friendship so entirely yours that he hath been more faithful to Cleopatra than to your self You speak truth now replyed Marcellus and I know well that Coriolanus whose justification you undertake upon an imperfect knowledge hath been no more faithful to his Mistress than to his friend I do not wonder that the complaint I have made You of him hath surprized you after what hath been evident to all the Romans concerning our friendship but when I shall have related to You that which you desire to know concerning my life you will without doubt abandon the part of this ungrateful man and confess with me that all the complaints I can make of him are inferior to his perfidiousness Tyridates was full of confusion and astonishment at this discourse and because of the change he understood changing the design he had for the interview of these two Princes before he engaged himself in Marcellus his Relation he called one of his Men and gave him order that if Coriolanus did return he should come and give him notice of it before he entred into the Chamber After this precaution which he judged necessary by reason of the things he had heard he placed himself again by Marcellus who without any further intreaty began his discourse thus The History of MARCELLUS and JULIA BEfore I come to the relation of the injury which I have received from the ungrateful Prince whom you defend it is necessary that I recount to you some other things that precede it and which make up without doubt a great part of my displeasures You know since I was engaged in the service of the Princess Julia the intention the Emperour hath alwayes had to allay me to him by the Marriage of his Daughter nearer than I am by Birth and you have without doubt heard some discourse at Rome during the stay you made there of the violence which in favour of Coriolanus I offered to my former inclinations which had given me to Cleopatra I know interrupted Tyridates a great deal more I am not ignorant of any thing touching the beginnings of your life your love to Cleopatra the generous effects of your friendship towards Coriolanus all the good offices you have rendred him since in the whole course of his love and the business which his passion caused him I have understood the displeasures you resented for the testimonies of affection which Julia bestowed upon Coriolanus your reconciliation with that Princess and in fine all the things wherein you could have any interest till the time that Coriolanus parted from Rome to pass into Africa to recover his Kingdom I know not replyed Marcellus of whom you could learn all this but by this knowledge which you have of the first adventures of my life I shall be much eased in the discourse which I have to make unto you and I shall truly recount unto you the latter though I cannot call them to mind without displeasure nor speak of them without confusion Heaven without doubt beheld me with an angry aspect when it destined me to the service of Julia and to the reasons which I have to hate Coriolanus I ought to add this that for the love of him onely and not out of the respect I owe to the will of Caesar I engaged my self in a servitude which makes up all the misfortunes of my life It is not but that Julia as you know is of such a composure that if inconstancy and artifice did not spoil what there is in her of good and amiable the most accomplished person of the world might find uncommon felicities in the testimonies of her affection Her beauty as you can witness hardly gives precedency to the supreamest beauties of the Earth and her spirit is endued with charms against which it is difficult to defend ones self when she will employ them with their powers entire A taking sweetness and an attractive grace accompany all her actions and all her discourses and with her looks when she pleaseth to joyn to what she hath received from nature that which Art hath taught her for their conduct she goes to the bottom of an heart to search out those places which are most fortified against the Empire that she will establish Her humour is the most pleasant the most agreeable and the fullest of divertisement in the world if her mind be not troubled with some passion and she hath naturally an eloquence so facile and so fluent that there are few persons which can express their conceptions in better terms and with more facility briefly she is entirely such that it is impossible to defend her self from her snares when she â—ays them with design and I have experimented it but too much for my repose which she hath so often troubled and now utterly ruined by the last effects of her inconstancy I will not speak to you seeing you know it already of the displeasures she made me sensible of by the testimonies of her affection to Coriolanus After the departure of this Prince to the Wars of the Asturians we reconciled ourselves and though I could not give absolute credit to the things which Julia alledged to me for her justification yet my inclinations spake for her and did so combat with the appearances to deceive that at last I perswaded my self to part of that
number of persons which made haste to part us and stop the passages out of the City My friends upon my going alone from Sulpicia's house from whom they understood some part of my resentments and Drusus his friends upon my coming to seek him at his house contrary to my custome and in the condition I was and all of them upon what had passed at the Capitol and upon divers other appearances had conjectured the truth and were separated into divers troops that they might not fail to find us and hinder the execution of our design I thought we could have escaped from the first that appeared by another street but when I saw great troops coming on every side whithersoever I could cast my eyes I was seized upon by as violent a displeasure as ever I had been sensible of in my life and turning my self towards Drusus with an action that sufficiently expressed my choler We can go no further said I but we will not quit one another in this manner and before the people who are coming to us can have time to part us one of us will have time enough to draw bloud of his enemy I had no sooner made an end of these words but I had my sword in my hand and Drusus having been no less forward than my self to that action we thrust at one another with a great deal of animosity Ptolomy obliged Tyberius to the same and in the presence of a thousand witnesses all four of us began a Combat which could not have been of any long continuance by reason of its violence though the great number of those who ran to part us had not hindred the sequel At the first pass I received a great wound in the thigh and Drusus was run through the shoulder and young Ptolomy having charged Tyberius like a Lion they slightly hurt one another at the first bout but when we would have gone to it again we had not the liberty and we were environed by so many persons that whatsoever Drusus and I could do it was not possible for us to engage any more This hindrance of my most violent desires made me exceed the bounds of moderation towards my most officious friends and in stead of thanking them for the care they took of my life I expressed my displeasure in such terms as they would not have taken at my hands if they had not been really my friends Nevertheless there was a necessity that I should be patient and Agrippa with divers of the most noble Romans conducted Ptolomy to Octavia's house whilest Domitius with a great number of others carried home Tyberius and his brother Octavia though she were endued with a great courage the Princess Cleopatra and my Sisters could not see me bloudy without fear and grief but they were better satisfied when my wound having been searched was not found dangerous though it were great Ptolomy was hurt in one of his arms but it was very slightly and the Princess his Sister who was afraid when she saw the bloud upon his habit was not sorry that by that little he had lost he had testified his amity to Marcellus and his courage to all the Romans The report of our quarrel being presently spread abroad the whole City took part with our interests but I may truly say that how great so ever the credit of Livia was my part was the greater and the most powerful and besides the affection which through my good hap all the dis-interessed Romans bare me the authority of Augustus who for all the love he bare his Wife did not stick to declare himself for me fortified it very much He did me the honour to come and see me when my wound was scarce dress'd and he was no sooner come near my bed but embracing me with as much affection and tenderness as if I had been his own Son What Marcellus said he to me are you so prodigal of a life that is as dear to me as my own and do I see you in danger at Rome close by me by the children of Livia after you had escaped so many dangers against the arms of our enemies Sir said I to him I have been but in few perilous encounters and that were not enough to oblige you to the care which out of an extraordinary goodness you take of me No danger replyed Caesar can be so slight in relation to you but 't is very terrible to me and you know I love Marcellus well enough to be as sensible of his hurt as if I had received it my self but in fine what is the occasion that hath urged you to so violent extremities against the Son of Livia Sir answered I it was for some words which Tyberius and Ptolomy had together concerning Cleopatra and I loving the children of Anthony as my Brethren as you and the Princess Octavia would have me could not separate my self from their interests any more upon this than any other occasion Augustus shook his head at this discourse and looking upon me with an action which sufficiently assured me that he did not believe me I only asked you this question said he that I might receive from your own mouth the confirmation of a thing which I have the true relation of already from my Sister your discretion is admirable that when you have such just cause to accuse the inconstancy the ingratitude and the imprudence of Julia you do not open your mouth to complain of it but I shall know how to take such order as is fitting both as the Father of Julia and as being interessed in the repose of Marcellus and I shall let Drusus and Julia know the displeasure I have received from the ambition of the one and the ill conduct of the other Ah! Sir cryed I the Princess Octavia could not afflict me more sensibly than in rendering me criminal as she hath done both towards Julia and towards your self and if in the transports of my passion I have made complaints to her sometimes as to my Mother she should have remembred that persons in love are not alwayes rational in their discourses and actions I have no cause to complain of the Princess Julia I have received favours from her above what I could justly pretend to and if I could not render her so much affection or acknowledgment by my services as I could desire I have no body to accuse for it but my self on whom the Gods have not bestowed qualities sufficiently amiable to merit the affections of Julia. Marcellus replied the Emperour by your procedure so full of discretion and goodness you render Julia yet more criminal and I will let her know how sensible I am of the displeasure she hath done me in such a manner that for the future she shall be more circumspect to avoid the occasions of it Ah! Sir said I with an action full of transport you cannot upon my consideration expose the Princess to the least displeasure without bringing me to my Grave and though it were
to his love that I gave it way to encrease to conceive hopes and to form designs which offended Heaven and Nature But when with a little more Age I had gained a little more knowledge I observed in his affection and in his caresses some things that did not please me and I began to distinguish the transports of a violent passion from the effects of a pure and innocent amity I hardly began to doubt but that I received assurances from his own mouth and one day after he had continued a good part of it expressing his thoughts with more ardor than I desired at his hands finding my humor more repugnant to his kindnesses than he had observed before he took notice of my sighs What is the matter Sister said he and what have I done that can have diminished your affection as much as mine is augmented Is it because I love you too well that you cease to love me Brother said I I shall never cease to love you neither is it necessary that you should love me too much for all excesses are to be condemned and I shall alwayes content my self with a moderate and rational amity such as a good Brother may have for his Sister Ah! Olympia said he for the name of a Sister is cruel and cross to me how far is that moderate friendship which you require from that which I have for You and how contrary is Heaven to me in not causing you to be descended from the greatest stranger in the World rather than from the King our Father You wish me ill replyed I dissembling my thoughts and making as if I knew not his and if I were born of any other Parents I should not be your Sister That would be my greatest felicity answered Adallus the nearest of blood is the greatest obstacle that hinders the repose of my mind and the peservation of my Life Yes Olympia I love you I do not love you as a Brother with a weak and languishing amity but as an inflamed Lover and as a man so desperately in Love that if your pity doth abandon me I shall abandon my self to despair Be not amazed Olympia at this Declaration my passion is not without example even in our own family the laws of Love are stronger then those of blood and those that may retain common persons are not powerful enough to bridle Kings and oppose themselves to the repose and lives of Soveraign Princes upon a weak and slight consideration This discourse the understanding whereof I could no longer dissemble stroke me with an an unparallelled astonishment and troubled me in such a manner that for a long time I was not in a condition to reply You terrifie your self added the Prince seeing me in that confusion but if your affection doth but a little correspond with mine You will find nothing strange either in my discourse or my designs Juno was the Sister and the Wise of Jupiter amonstg our ancestors a like proximity did not hinder a more particular alliance and at this day amongst divers nations of the World brotherhood is no impediment to marriage To these words he added divers others upon the same subject at the close whereof having had time to compose my self a little and looking upon him with an eye that sufficiently signified the repugnance I had against his horrid propositions Adallus said I to him for the name of Brother in you is as little conformable to your discourse and designs as the name of Sister in me you fill me with so much shame and confusion that I know not how to behave my self one moment in your presence since I heard the words you pronounced but now Heaven Nature you and I are offended by them in such a manner that I would willingly give the best part of my blood that I could give my ears the lie and restore innocence to the most criminal thoughts that ever fell into the mind of a Prince Ah! Sir if you have any sense of vertue left oppose the motions of a horrid passion and do not dis-honour your life with a stain so black that all your blood can never wash out I find no shame replyed Adallus interrupting me in loving that which the Gods have made most amiable in the World and beauty in the person of my Sister is as powerful upon my Soul as in a Stranger Princesse we have so many examples of a passion like to mine that I shall but little fear the reproaches of men for a love which I feel no regret in my conscience which would be the first to accuse if there were any thing of criminal in it and in fine though it were a crime and a shame to love you I am carried to it by a power which I am not able to resist and engaged by a necessity which will force me to love you to my Grave without any consideration of reproaches or all the obstacles that you can oppose me with And for my part replyed I I am obliged by vertue and the nearness of blood which makes me look upon your intentions with horror and detesttation to fly from You henceforth as from a monster that would devour me and to offer violence to that amity which the relations of blood and reason had wrought in me to a Brother by the aversion I ought to have even to my Grave against Your detestable thoughts You may do it added the Prince and you may behold my death with the same eye that You look upon my passion and I do not know in which of these two actions you will be the less criminal either for having loved you brother or for having caused your Brothers death You will not dye said I when you shall render your self Master of this horrible passion which causes all the shame of your life and though you should dye upon that account I should be very innocent of a death to which I shall have contributed nothing but what I owe to my honour which is dearer to me than Your life or mine own I believe replyed Adallus that You will easily comfort Your self for it I shall comfort my self better for that answered I very briskly than I should do for the crime which you propose to me and though together with the loss of your Life I mustconsent to part with mine own I should more easily resolve upon itthan upon a detestable action the only proposition whereof makes me to tremble I did not believe replyed he I should have found you of so bad a nature possibly time may alter it and make you to consider that it is not so bad a crime as you imagine to throw a Brother and a lover into his Grave I must part with my life for my Brother said I I will do it without repugnance but as for a Lover in the person of a Brother I will avoid him as long as I live if it be possible as my most dangerous Enemy We had more discourse besides by which with as much
sweetness as I could possibly I represented all things to him which might strike some horror of it into him with all the amity of a Sister and a rationality above my age But my endeavours were in vain and he parted from me protesting that death only should cure his love and that he would renounce his life if I would not preserve it for him by an affection equal to his own After this day he lived with me as a declared lover and though his Love partly blotted out of my Soul that friendship which nature had established there and began to render him odious to me as a man whose thoughts were detestable yet such was his Birth that I could not avoid him as I might have avoided any other person if I had had the design to do it and besides whilst I expected that time or reason or the Kings authority should procure some remedy I did all that possibly I could to conceal a thing of which as I thought half the shame reflected upon me and upon this consideration I could not openly express with what repugnance I received the Prince's visits because I would not divulge the cause yet I could not hinder it from being quickly known and he grew so blind in his passion that he lost all manner of discretion and by his ill conduct made all the court sensible of that which he should have concealed at the rate of his own life The King had knowledge of it by a thousand too visible marks and when I was no longer able to support the persecutions of my brother I took my last resolution to complain of him and to discover to my Father that which out of my care of his repose I had alwayes concealed from him When he was fully confirm'd in this knowledge and when upon the discourse he made me concerning it I was constrained to confess it my self to him he was transported with anger and testified his displeasure by divers marks which wrought no effect upon the Princes spirit He caused him to be called and after that he had signified to him with divers words full of sharpness the grief he had to see him fall into and persevere in so uncommon a crime he represented the deformity of it in such terms as were capable to reduce him to reason if he had been in a condition to hearken to them but after he had given a very quiet audience to the Kings discourse and surmounted the confusion which his reproaches might have caused in him making an effort upon the fear which the character of a father ought to have imprinted upon his Spirit Sir said he I wish with all my heart I were in a condition to testifie to your Majesty the submission I have to your will and I would strip my self of my strongest passions to render what is due from me to my Father and to my King if reason acknowledgment had preserved power enough over my spirit to retain it within the limits of its duty But Sir by the rigor of my destiny I see my self reduced to such terms that I have no power left to comply with you but only by making an end of my life if that be disagreeable to you 'T is true Sir that I love Olimpia and I love her in such a manner that nothing but death can free me from that passion which you condemn 'T is in this that my condition is more worthy of pity than reproach and seeing my self conducted by my ill Fortune to the love of a person of whom I am not beloved a love condemned as a crime by the King my Father I see no safety nor refuge for my self but in death alone nor will I seek it else where but since I am so unhappy as not to find pity neither in the Soul of a Sister nor of a Father I will escape by the only remedy wherewith my passion can inspire me from the long calamities to which it would expose my life if the course of it were not cut short by my final resolution He pronounced these words with so much violence that the King was so much troubled at them and feared some violent effect of his despair being well acquainted with his boyling and impetuous humour This fear made him act with the more sweetness to endeavor to reduce a Spirit which was not in a condition to be restrained by violence but all the things he could alledge to him to make him submit to reason were but in vain and his love as it seemed being spurred on by the resistance that it found grew stronger every day and by its augmentation augmented my displeasure I passed above a whole year in this condition that neither the treatments that I made him to extinguish his hopes nor the Kings dealing with him who from flattery when it was without effect oftentimes fell to threatning nor any humane consideration be able to remedy this disaster of our Family In fine the King believing that it was his last and surest expedient resolved to marry me to some one of the neighbouring Princes amongst whom there were divers that desired his alliance and he judged that by this separation from the eyes of my Brother his passion might be mortified and that all his criminal thoughts might be dissipated by impossibility when he had executed his designs I know not what would have happened thereupon if the poor Prince could have acted this resolution but to my misfortune it was hardly formed when he was seized by a violent Feaver which laid him in his Grave within ten dayes Before he dyed amongst divers instructions that he gave his Son for the government of the Kingdom he left him he exhorted him the most tenderly that possibly he could to quit himself of the love he had for me and threatned him with all manner of misfortune if he persevered in it Adallus seeing the King near his end dissembled his thoughts and feigning that he was moved with these expressions of his Fathers last will promised him all that he desired of him The King Preached to me too upon the same Text and expresly charged me never to suffer that his Family should be polluted with an incestuous Marriage But this command was not necessary and the horror of my Brothers intentions was so deeply engrave in my heart that I had no need of the King's sollicitations to dispose me rather to death than to his shameful consent The good King died to my great regret and his peoples grief whom he had governed with a great deal of Justice and sweetness I will not entertain you with the complaints which this loss caused me to make you may judge Ladies that they were excessive and besides the grief which the nearness of blood could not but make me sensible of in the loss of so good a Father I was particularly interessed by the loss of his protection who had till then defended me against the pursuits of my Brother He was publickly crowned in
Bizantium and he had handsome parts enough to give his people good hopes of his government he is comely of his person naturally endued with spirit and courage and if that irrational love and the effect it hath produced had not laid a blot upon his life that he will never be able to wipe off he would not be the least considerable amongst the Kings who at this day wear a Crown He began his government with the ordinary forms he rendred suneral honours to the King our Father with a great deal of magnificence and bestowed divers dayes about affairs of State and the establishment of his dignity giving me time to lament the death of my Father without interrupting me in that sad exercise by his persecutions And truly he made me conceive some hope that I might for the future be exempted from them and that the Kings last words oâ— the change of his condition had produced this effect upon his Spirit But I saw my self cruelly deceived in this hope and whereas before I had only the pursuites of a Brother to suffer who had no command over me I found my self subjected to the power of a King who demanded that of me with authority which before he had sought by the wayes of love and sweetness Yet the first marks he gave me of the continuation of his love were upon the former terms and he was minded to make use of the civilities of a Lover before he had recourse to the power of a Tyrant I will not tell you Ladies for my narration would be of too excessive a length all the amorous discourses that he made me divers months whereby he thought to change my mind and make me consent to marriage nor the answers I made him at that time to make him comprehend the foulness of the crime which he proposed and to imprint in his heart the shame of an action that would be detested by all the world He alledged to me instead of all reasons that Kings were not subject to the Laws they made themselves and that they governed themselves by other Maxims than they did their people At last having observed that the wayes of sweetness were to no purpose and that instead of expressing any desire to comply with his intentions I conceived every day more horror against his design he resolved to employ his authority and declared to me that seeing neither as a Brother nor as a a Lover he was able to move me either to love or pity nor make me consent to a thing whereupon the preservation of his life depended he was constrained to act as a King in his dominions and to seek his own safety by that power which the Gods and his own birth hath bestowed upon him At this cruel declaration I continued rather dead than alive and looking upon him with eyes that signified my grief and just resentment what Sir said I will you make use of Your authority to force your Sister to an action which will draw upon you the indignation of Heaven and the detestation of the whole World will you not consider that I am tyed to you by such a nearness of blood that you cannot desire any greater alliance with me without rendring Your self abominable And will you not call to mind that I am descended from too noble a blood as well as you to be exposed to that violence which is not practised against the meanest Subjects If I had any other wayes repyed Adallus to perswade you I should not have recourse to those you force me to make use of and you know your self that I have forgot nothing which was probably capable to prevail with you but in the extremity whereunto you have reduced me by the hardness of your heart either I must needs die or serve my self with the power which I have received from Heaven to serve my self Ah Sir replyed I transported with displeasure you will not die but this unfortunate creature which hath so unluckily troubled your repose and by her beauty such as it is reduces you to the necessity of committing horrible crimes will die without doubt if other means be wanting to deliver her from that authority with which you threaten her 'T was in you that I hoped to find protection against any forreign power but since the Gods permit that in the person of a Brother I find a persecutor and a cruel Enemy they leave me those wayes to free my self that are open to all the world The King was a little touched at these words but he was not a jot staggered in his resolution and looking upon me with an eye divided between submission and authority You have no reason said he to throw your self into despair for these testimonies of my love which any other person but your self possibly would not call persecution I think You cannot hope to marrie a Prince with whom Your condition would be better or more sublime than with me and as for the crime which You fear if there be any it will lye all upon me who cause You to do a thing contrary to Your incilnations by the power which I have in my Dominions This will be Your justification before the people and Your defence against the reproaches of Your Conscience which You fear I will not proceed to extremities whatsoever impatience I suffer from my love before I have once more tried the ways wherewith I have hitherto served my self and by which I hope I shall mollifie and change Your mind but when I have practised them a while to as little purpose as I have formerly done do not think it strange Sister that for the preservation of my life I make use of all my rights to work You to a thing which You ought willingly to embrace He left me half dead with grief at these cruel words and the tears which he saw in my eyes at our parting were not capable to move him to divert him from his cruel intentions I abandoned my self to sorrow all the rest of that day and for divers others and not being able to digest this violence from that person in the world from whom I ought to have feared it least I wanted but a little of throwing my self into Tragical resolutions What said I shall the Daughter of a King be used with such tyranny as is not exercised upon the vilest persons and shall that Brother whose power ought to secure her from violence and oppression be the person by whom she shall see her self exposed to outrage and indignity shall Olympia in whom the Gods have implanted some love to Vertue and inclinations averse from vice and thoughts though never so little criminal suffer her self by her weakness to be exposed to publick shame and the reproach of the whole World Ah! no Adallus no Tyrant for the name of a Brother is not due to thee because of the outragious violence which thou committest against a Sister who possibly was not unworthy of her birth neither dost thou deserve the
Elisa's mouth who confessed to her the love she bare to the great and unfortunate Artaban which she had not discovered to Cornelius nor to any person in whom she could not repose an absolute confidence Olympia admired at the grand adventures which till then were not come to her knowledge and her grief was augmented when she understood the just occasion which Elisa had to afflict her self for the loss of so great a man and one whom she had so dearly loved Part of the night being spent in their converse together Elisa desired Olympia to lodge with her instead of returning to a bed and a Chamber unworthy of her and pressed her to it very earnestly but the Princess of Thrace would by no means consent to it telling her that that would be enough to discover her without any necessity and that being used to the place which was assigned to her her lodging was not inconvenient Elisa not being able to prevail upon her resolution for that night permitted her to depart the Chamber and going to bed she presently after composed her self to sleep as well as her cruel strife could possibly suffer her But Agrippa passed this night in a different manner from all the nights he had ever passed in his life and the beauty of Elisa had wrought that upon his Spirit in one day which a less extraordinary one would not have done in whole years and that which had not been done in so many years by all the Roman beauties and so many others of the highest reputation amongst whom he had insensibly spent his life The image of that admirable Princess in whom grief had appeared as in its Throne and that in a languishing and dejected condition had preserved vigor and force enough to conquer the proud liberty had penetrated that martial Spirit with such a power as presently put all into a flame and Agrippa no sooner reflected upon what he had seen that fatal day but he found himself to be amorous and all on fire He could hardly at first disgest this change of his condition and reviewing his whole life with some disdain as to what was past and with some confusion as to the present What is the matter Agrippa said he and by what misfortune dost thou so suddenly permit trouble and disorder to enter into thy soul Hast thou seen the Emilia's the Octavia's the Julia's and the Cleopatra's without endangering thy liberty and wilt thou yield up thy self at the first sight of a young strange Maid Shall that courage which hitherto had found no employment capable to engage it but in War and the government of the Empire submit it self to a beauty in one day at one single view Ah! my heart what weakness will thine be accounted if thou givest up thy arms with so little resistance What will the Romans say who have seen thee at the head of their Troups in those famous combats which have so successfully decided the Empire of the Universe And what will those famous beauties say who possess the highest ranks in the world amongst those of their sex if thou sufferest thy self to be over-thrown by one single look of the Daughter of a barbarous King the Daughter of the cruel enemy of the Romans These were his first discourses by which he thought in some sort to oppose the birth of his love but a little after insensibly yielding to its force But what dost thou find went he on so strange in this rancounter Hast thou an heart of Stone or Brass Hast thou a more warlike soul than Alexander than the great Julius Caesar or so many others who amongst the combats wherein they passed their lives have suffered themselves to be vanquished by the power of beauty or dost thou find either by reason or example that love and valour are incompatible Have those famous beauties from which thou hast defended thy self or rather to whose Empire thou wast not destined any thing more great and high than this young beauty to which it seems thou art ashamed to submit Is that of the Julia's and Cleopatra's more accomplished or more admirable than Elisa's Are the graces which ought to accompany beauty with greater advantages in those Princesses than in the Princess of the Parthians And as for birth can a higher be looked for even in Caesar's family or rather is there any blood in the world that can compare in Nobleness with that of the Arsacidae No Agrippa continued he it will be no offence in thee to love this Divine Princess and if thou hast any thing to fear in doing so it must be torments it must be sufferings perhaps to no purpose 'T is it may be an engagement in the Princesse's Spirit which will render her insensible of thy love and not the reproach and shame of having submitted to the fairest Yoak that ever fortune could impose upon thee Rather fear that this Princess being born with an Arsacian heart and an Enemy of the Roman name though the necessity of her affairs compells her to seek for Sanctuary amongst the Romans hates thee as a Roman and disdains thee as one born of an inferiour blood to hers though by the favour of Caesar thou art in a condition not to envy Kings but seest a great number of them every day below thee That power which thou hast acquired either by thy Merit or thy Fortune will possibly be less considerable to her than a long series of Royal Ancestors and besides Elisa is the only Daughter of Phraates and Heir of the Empire of the Parthians who will never suffer that the Dominion of their Country should fall into the hands of a stranger and of a Roman This is the truth Agrippa and where thou seekest excuses for thy passion thou findest difficulties great enough to divert thee from it if thou leavest reason any command over thy Spirit This consideration kept him a while irresolute and at a stand but a little after encouraging himself against this obstacle which seemed to have terrified him 'T is no matter added he if Elisa be the Daughter of our Enemies if Elisa be the Heir of a Kingdom which will hardly submit to a Roman that is not capable of repulsing such a courage as mine and if by my love and services I can gain Elisa's inclinations whilst she continues in the Roman Territories and whilst she flies the persecutions of her Father the power of Caesar and of Rome who will take up arms for my sake will possibly do the rest and though Caesar should make War upon the Parthians in my quarrel and to preserve the rights of their Princess he will make no new Enemies to the Romans but will only continue what his Predecessors have begun and do that to which he ought to be animated by the blood of so many Romans who under Crassus and Anthony found their graves in Parthia In this manner Agrippa encouraged himself in his resolution to love Elisa and suffering himself to be flattered by his
along Cornelius seeing him in this condition believed in all probability that his Master might be killed and that there had been some combat near that place and as his charge obliged him carefully to inform himself of the business and to remedy the disorders that arrived in Egypt he parted from Candace and galloped towards the place whence he saw the horse come Candace conceiving with her self that in all adventures her Caesario had some interest and that in all combats where there was blood shed her beloved Prince was in some danger desired that the Chariot might take the same way and when they knew her mind they turned the heads of the Horses thitherward and Agrippa followed them with all the company out of complacency and curiosity but because Cornelius being carried on by a greater interest had put on his horse with greater speed he got a great way before the troop and he had not gone far into the Wood but he saw more horses feeding upon the fresh grass at liberty and a few paces thence a great deal of blood shed and seven or eight bodies of men compleatly armed lying dead upon the Turf The Pretor stopped at this spectacle and after he had viewed the dead and the great wounds which had put them into that condition with surprize and astonishment he turned his eyes every way to inform himself concerning this adventure and commanded some of his retinue to disarm the faces of these men to see if there was any amongst them that had so much life left as to declare the truth Two of his men were already employed in that office when he saw a man come out from between the trees who drawing near him with an assured countenance Sir said he all these men which you see deprived of life lost it by the hand of a single man on foot and without any other arms but his Sword they have been punished for their crime by a blow of Justice reached from Heaven and one single man hath performed the combat whereof you see the bloody marks The victory and the field were his but he could not hinder by the admirable effects of his valour but that two great Princesses for whose defence he fought were carried away by the companions of those whom he hath slain I learned the truth of it just now from one of these men who died here in my presence when I saw you appear Gallus was astonished at this discourse as well in regard of what he understood concerning the mans valour as in respect of the carrying away of the Princesses whose arrival in the Countries under his government he had not heard of and desiring to be farther informed And who said he are the Princesses who were carried away and the valiant man that so generously defended them and what are they that carried them away The two Princesses replyed the man are the Princess Cleopatra and the Princess Artemisa Sister to the King of Armenia he which defended them is unknown both to me and those he fought against they that carried them away are Armenians who did this violence in this Country by their Kings command this is all I could learn from one of these men who did not live long enough to tell me any more What ye good Gods cryed the Pretor is the Princess Cleopatra who was thought to have suffered shipwrack lately carried away and are not you abused by the discourse that hath been made you As for what relates to the Princesses added the man I can certainly assure you of it I saw them with my eyes I know them very well and I have continued with them ever since yesterday I would likewise have been farther informed and have known the place whither the Barbarians carried them but Sir trouble your self no farther with me who am not able to give you any more ample instruction but hasten to the assistance of the fairest Princesses in the world seeing Heaven hath given you so fair an occasion The man finished his discourse in this manner and was already gone from Cornelius who being very much surprised with so unexpected an accident was preparing to hasten to Cleopatra's assistance when the two Princesses in their Chariot and Agrippa not far from them arrived at the place They were affrighted at the first at the sight of the dead bodies and Cornelius having given them an account in few words of what he had learned from the mans mouth strongly moved Candace and Agrippa upon Cleopatra's interest Agrippa as a friend of that Princesses and of all her family and Candace as one obliged by a great tenderness to all Caesario's kindred Ah Sir said she to Cornelius presently if it be the will of the Gods that Cleopatra that Princess of whom you your self have made me so advantagious a relation be not perished in the Waves do not suffer her to be without succour in those places where you have so much authority There was no need of saying any more to a man to whom the occasions of pleasing Candace were as dear as the obligations of his charge never was she in a condition to make him any longer discourse having cast her eyes upon the man who had spoken to Cornelius and whom cross the trees amongst which he retired himself she thought to be Eteocles the Governour of her beloved Prince She jogged Clity with her knee who sate at her feet and laying her head to her ear Look Clity said she and observe if that man of whom Cornelius hath had all his intelligence and whom thou seest retiring a great pace amongst the trees be not Eteocles Clity raised up her head at the Queens desire but though she saw the man she saw nothing but his backside and observed only that he was of Eteocles his pitch and had such cloaths as Eteocles wore that day they parted The fair Queen was not quite free from the emotion which his sight caused when Cornelius approaching to her to the Princess Elisa and to Agrippa desired permission of them that he might acquit himself of his duty in pursuing Cleopatra's Ravishers and departed with some of his men leaving a good number of the rest to reconduct them into the City Agrippa was already sufficiently engaged to Elisa not to stir from her upon a slight occasion but the respect he had for all Cleopatra's family and for his own honour which obliged him to succour the oppressed being powerful enough to make him offer this violence to his inclinations he took his leave of the Princess to go with Cornelius Had it been for persons of less importance than Cleopatra and the Princess of Armenia the Pretor would have been contented in relation to the duty of his charge to have sent some of his men to their assistance but for Princesses of that consideration he believed that he ought to go in person and Agrippa though Cornelius with words full of civility and respect endeavoured to divert him from the trouble did too much
the same Artaxus from whom you have received some bloudy displeasures in your Family and this Prince for whom at first you had so much aversion is the Prince Ariobarzanes my Brother of a very different humour from the King his elder Brother and who had no hand in that crueltie which caused so great a resentment against Artaxus in the Spirit of the King your Father See now Philadelph whether you love Delia still or the Sister of Artaxus and whether I have not lost what my good fortune had gained upon your Spirit by being born of a bloud which is odious to your Family Ah! Madam cryed the transported Prince imprinting almost by force a fiery kiss upon Arsinoes fair hand though Artaxus should have exposed me my self to the most violent effects of cruelty the Pricess Arsinoe his Sister and yet my adorable Delia is not less worthy of my respects and I do not only continue in the former terms of my love to her but upon her consideration Artaxus is no longer odious to me and seeing he is Delia's Brother I would serve him with my life and bloud Upon these words the Prince Ariobarzanes stretching out his arms to him And may not I said he who did no way contribute to those actions which gave you so just an occasion to hate the cruel Artaxus I who was a great way off from the place where they were committed and after I had heard of them alwaies looked upon mine own Brother with aversion and repugnance may not I hope more justly than he that the same goodness which causes you so easily to pardon the culpable will incline you to love the innocent and those which have never offended you nor yours Philadelph tenderly embracing Ariobarzanes What resentment soever said he my jealousie caused in me to day against you you are composed of such admirable parts that it would be no difficulty for you to gain the hearts of your most cruel enemies and if any thing could remain upon my heart against you it would be because I believed you were the Lover of Delia and not because I know you to be the Brother of Artaxus But Madam continued he turning to the Princess you surprize me with your discourse I have been informed that in the King of Armenia's Family there was a Prince Ariobarzanes and a Princess Arsinoe born both with admirable qualities but there came a report to us since that as they were going to Rome both Arsinoe and Ariobarzanes perished by a shipwrack which made all Armenia deplore their loss as being two incomparable persons We did really suffer shipwrack replyed Arsinoe and I believe we are dead still in the opinion of the Armenians and of the greatest part of those that knew us but the Gods to whom the person of Ariobarzanes was precious would not let him perish but saved me too for his sake This is that which I would now acquaint you with and after that I have briefly made known to you the reasons which caused me to conceal my self in Cilicia and which obliged me to depart thence I will give you an account of that which hath befallen me since our separation which hindred me from retiring into Armenia as my intention was to do With these words she caused him to sit down again in his chair and in the mean time the Prince Ariobarzanes not judging it necessary for him to be present at a relation whereof he knew all the particulars and desiring to give the two Lovers leisure to discourse of their adventures with all freedom whilst he went to entertain himself with those thoughts with which his Spirit was disturbed went out of the Chamber to go and walk in a garden which he saw under the windows Only the Princesses maid continued with her own and Philadelph's Mistris and the Princess having kept silence a while to call to remembrance those things which she intended to relate she began her discourse in these terms The History of the Princes ARSINOE THere are few remarkable things in my life wherewith you are not acquainted those of the most importance befell me in Cilicia whereof you are a witness and the principal cause and you are ignorant of nothing almost but what hath happened since our separation and that I shall acquaint you with at large after that I have succinctly passed over former businesses and those reasons which may defend me against your accusations I will not begin my discourse with the beginnings of my life which have nothing of importance in them but what is known throughout all Asia my first years passed away with sweetness and tranquillity enough and the time of our tender infancie was spent in a flourishing Court and a peaceable and fortunate Kingdom but I hardly began to have the use of reason or any knowledge of our condition of life when by the cruel surprize of Anthony the unfortunate Artibasus our Father was carried prisoner to Alexandria and all his family with him except Artaxus our elder Brother who succeeded him in the enjoyment of the Crown My Brother Ariobarzanes my Sister Artemisa and my self lived in a captivity in a pompous Court till I was about eight or nine years old and this loss of our liberty the sorrow whereof was so cruelly redoubled by the deplorable death of the King our Father which I believe no person is ignorant of was not repaired till after the defeat and the last misfortunes of Anthony and Cleopatra at which time Caesar being Master of Alexandria and the Empire too by the fall of his Competitor freed us from captivity and sent us back with an honourable Convoy to the King of Armenia our Brother whom he received into the number of his Friends and Allies I relate this to you in a few words as a thing sufficiently divulged and I will not entertain you with the reception which Artaxus gave us who looked upon the rank of our family with great resentments for our common misfortune We lived in his Court with all the splendor we had lost and we recovered there together with our libertie our former rank and dignity We were brought up my Brother my Sister and my self with great care and it was not the fault of those persons who were put about me that the slight advantages which I might have received from nature were not favourably seconded by good education There was nothing forgotten which might frame my Spirit to the horror of vices and to the love of vertue and I will say if I may do it without offending against modesty that I had my inclinations naturally carried to esteem that which seemed good and to avoid that which appeared to me to be vicious I had a good Governess the very same you saw in Cilicia whom I made to pass for my Aunt who took a great deal of pains to cultivate whatsoever she thought she observed of good in me and contributed as much as possibly she could to form me according to her
desires and vertuous inclinations About this time as you know the King my Brother prompted by a very just desire of revenge made war upon the King of the Medes your Allie and in the first year he had some advantages which made him hope the absolute ruine of his enemies 'T is true by what we could understand he dishonoured them by his crueltie and the Gods likewise to punish him for it stopt the course of his good fortune by the succours you gave Tygranes which changed his fortune and forced him to be gone out of the Dominions of your Allies 'T was at that time that he committed that action which hath been so much condemned by all vertuous persons to cut the throats of two Princes of your bloud prisoners in a just war and against whom he could have no lawful resentment This was that which made him lose the valiant Britomarus whose valour had been so favourable to him in the first year of the war and upon the relation which was made me of the generous quarrel he had with the King for the safetie of his prisoners what cause soever I had otherwise to blame the presumption of that young warrior I could not but have his vertue and greatness of courage in admiration and that esteem made me forget some part of the resentment I had against him Ariobarzanes who by the Kings command continued at Artaxata as well because of his Youth which as yet was not capable of bearing arms as to keep the Armenians in obedience whilst the King made war in forreign Countries wept for regret and grief at the relation of this crueltie and made all those judge who saw him at that time that his inclinations would be very different from those of the King his Brother I enlarge my self particularly upon this action of Artaxus because it was upon this account that the hatred of the King your Father was so violently exasperated both against him and his and it was upon the resentment of this action that he made an oath never to pardon any person of the bloud or Alliance of Artaxus whom fortune should cause to fall into his hands and it was upon this knowledge and out of the fear of this choler that I obstinately resolved upon so long a disguise in Cilicia You know better than I what were the last successes of that War and how at last it was ended by Augustus's authority who by the terror of his power made these Kings who were cruelly bent to ruine each other to lay down their arms and forced them to peace when the weakness of them both might sufficiently have disposed them to it if their hatred had not maintained the war rather than their forces 'T is true said Philadelph interrupting the Princesses discourse that the King my Father retired with so much grief and resentment against Artaxus for the death of Ariston and Theomedes his Nephews that to revenge himself of that cruelty there was no cruelty but he would have exercised and I believe if fortune had made you your self fall into his hands with this miraculous beauty and these divine graces which might have disarmed the rage of a hunger-starved Tygre he would have made you to have felt the effects of his indignation without any respect Do not think it strange then if I was afraid of him replied Arsinoe and do me the favour to believe still that the consideration of my life was not the cause of the greatest fears and I had not thought it due to my honour which in his indignation an implacable enemy might possibly have exposed to ignominy to take the more severe revenge upon Artaxus's cruelty I should not possibly have had this fear of a man born of a Royal bloud and of one that was your Father if it had not been confirmed in my Spirit by the knowledge he gave me of it as you shall understand in the sequel of my discourse You know that a little while after this forced peace Augustus sent to demand Ariobarzanes and my self to be brought up at Rome near him with divers Kings Children which were educated there in the same manner and were kept by Augustus near himself either to testifie his affection to their Parents or to have a greater assurance of their fidelity by means of those hostage Artaxus knew not presently what to judge of it but he durst not disobey Augustus's will of which in all probability this was an obliging effect on his part and having communicated to us the order which he had received he found us not unwilling to go the voyages Ariobarzanes being naturally amorous of great things joyfully received the proposition which was made him of going to that stately City Mistris of the greatest part of the Universe to pass some years in that pompous Court where almost all the Kings in the world came to pay their homage and besides he had small inclination to the severe dealings of Artaxus but being of a sweet and pitiful disposition he could not live without repugnance with a man so cruel and in exorable towards those who had offended him These were the reasons which obliged Ariobarzanes willingly to undertake the voyage to Rome and his good will easily gained mine without him I should hardly have ventured upon this enterprise but ever since we were little ones there was contracted so near an amitie between us that we could hardly live one without the other and I did more easily resolve to go all the world over with Ariobarzanes who was as dear to me as my self than to stay at Artaxata without him It would be to no purpose to relate to you the preparations for our Voyage and regrets which Artaxus and Artemisa expressed at our departure it will suffice me to tell you that all things were ordered as they should be with an equipage beseeming our birth we departed from Artaxata upon the way towards Italy and marched as far as the Egean Sea where we embarqued after we had crossed a good part of Armenia and coasted Licia and Pamphilia by land without any memorable accident From the Egean Sea in stead of passing over the Streight to descend into Macedonia and to take Shipping again upon the Adriatique Gulph as that was our most direct way fearing the tediousness of those long Voyages by land and wherewith we were already tired we turned upon the left hand towards Peloponnesus and descended into the Mediterranean Sea believing that though it would be the longer yet it would be the easier way not being obliiged to embark and disembark so often It was rather our destinies that would have it thus and the Gods who reserved Ariobarzanes and I for other adventures had not ordained that we should see the banks of Tyber We had been but a small time upon this Sea when we were seized upon by that furious tempest wherein we suffered that shipwrack which you have heard spoken of and lost our lives in the opinion of so many persons
to a little brook which there about ran into the river being bordered on both sides with a tuft of trees thicker than the rest of the wood upon our right hand some paces distant from us I heard after divers sighs and sobs the voice of a man who by the violence of his grief was forced to complain in that solitary place before insensible witnesses At the first sound that reached my ears I stopt and lent attention but not out of any emotion of curiosity which at that time had little room in my soul Antigenes who followed me staid as well as I and we had not long continued attentive but we distinctly heard the complaints of that afflicted person To what intent said this disconsolate man to what intent wretch as thou art dost thou spin out the remainder of thy unfortunate life in an extremity of misery when thou seest thy self abandoned by all hope what motive can any longer make thee endure this deplorable life which hath been divided between glory and misfortunes and what effect at last dost thou expect from thy grief to execute that which thine own hand should have performed Dost thou believe that by that courage which hath acquired thee some reputation amongst men thou oughtest to support with constancy or rather with insensibility evils worse than the most cruel deaths from which one death only might have secured thee The Sun doth now unwillingly lend thee his light and after the perfidiousness and ingratitude of men whereby thou sendest thy self exposed to so many miseries all things are contrary to thee all things are enemies to thee there is no more day there is no more light for thee amongst men and if that which made thee love the day be yet alive it is no more for thee poor wretch it is no more for thee the out-cast of men and fortune He stopt a while after these words and it seemed to me that this tone of voice was not an absolute stranger to me although I could not well discern it I turned my self towards Melite to communicate to her what I thought of it but I was diverted from it by the sequel of his complaint which he continued in this manner O the obscurest night O the most gloomy darkness how dear and agreeable are ye to me in comparison of this importunate Sun which possibly gives light to day to the Fortune of my enemies All the rayes it darts upon me are so many witnesses of my misfortunes and by its light henceforth I can behold nothing whereupon to fix my sight without repugnance since that for ever alas for ever I have lost the sight of my adorable Princess Ah! my grief ah my just resentment is it possible that upon so sad a remembrance you can leave my soul in so great tranquility Can you content your selves with a few regrets and a few tears which testifie my weakness as much as my affliction when you ought to have made your selves known to all Asia by Tragical and dreadful marks and by rivers of blood which should rerepair such bloody injuries Ah! without doubt my hand will serve me still upon that design and that valour which hath acquired me some reputation amongst men will arm thousands of them still in my quarrel if I would wear this sword amongst them to which heretofore they have attributed the gaining of battels but alas I have my hands tyed by a respect which I ought to preserve to my grave and my adorable Princess is so much the more worthy of it as she is innocent of my misfortunes and hath sympathized in them by her pity neither can I accuse any body of them but the cruelty of men and my own ill fortune The sad Unknown accompanied these last words with a throng of sighs which stopped the passage of them and sighs and sobs were the only language in which his grief did conclude its expressions not a word more proceeding from his mouth that we could understand Some moments after having heard as I believed some noise in the place where we were and I avoiding nothing so much as company he arose from the place where he was to look out one more private and permitted us to see as he retired between the trees the handsome proportion of his body and part of his face By that which appeared to our eyes we knew that he was extreamly pale and wan and I perceived very well that his grief might be taken notice of by other marks besides his complaints My heart was tenderly moved at those which I had heard and though it seemed to me as I told You before that the voice though a little changed with weakness was not an absolute stranger to me I conjectured by the words which I had heard which spake of Princesses and the gaining of battels that he which uttered them was no common person I mused upon it being very pensive as much as the remembrance of mine own misery could permit me when Antigenes who had heard all as well as I This man said he whosoever he is eases his grief by his complaints whilst another man more wise than he would have been seeking remedies for it 'T is replyed I smartly because he is not a Villain because he is not a Ravisher and because he rather chooses to be miserable all his life than to owe the end of his misery to his crimes You see how well he fares for it answered Antigenes and how happy his condition is for having been so respectful and circumspect 'T is more happy than Yours said I being much netled and much concerned in this discourse and besides that he possibly hath the comfort of being beloved by a Person whom he serves with respect as much as You are hated and detested by her whom You use so basely he hath the satisfaction of not being troubled with any remorse whilst Your conscience may well torment You worse than the most cruel death I saw that Antigenes grew pale at these words and was like one amazed he changed his colour divers times in a moment he trembled from head to foot and he seemed to me in the condition of a person that meditated upon some grand design I confess that the changing of his visage and his troubled countenance made me afraid and seeing him in such a form as he had never appeared in to me before I began to tremble my self out of an apprehension of fear which promised me no good I was not fearful without reason for the disloyal Villain approaching to me with a furious look If I am so much hated and so much detested by You said he I must merit this hatred and detestation by such actions as may secure You from the blame which You would have for hating me unjustly and if I must be exposed to remorse it should be for a crime which may yield me some profit and not for those respects and adorations which hitherto I have so unprofitably rendred You my patience
cruelly threatned him Besides Is it reasonable that I should desire the return of that poor Prince And if I love him really ought I to desire that to come and see me he should throw himself into such a manifest danger Ah! No Ericia let us never hope it let us never desire it and let us seek our utmost consolations in our tears As I ended these words I shed a great quantity of tears and all that the poor Ericia could alledge to me did but very little diminish my grief 'T is true that having accustomed my self from my infancy to an absolute resignation to the will of the gods I endeavored to practice it in this Adventure and in that indeed it was that I found some ease alwayes hoping that the Divine goodness would favour innocent designs or at least would give me constancy enough to support whatsoever it had resolved as to my destiny Lingring out my dayes in this manner two whole Months were slip't away before the Kings wounds were cured and he was not yet in a condition to go to Sea again when the two men whom he had sent into his Kingdom returned back in the same Vessel which he had furnished them with and brought him the saddest and the most unpleasing News that he could receive which was in a word of a general commotion and almost the total loss of all his Dominions This hapned in such a manner as I am going to relate to you in a few words The King Adallas our Father was not setled in the possession of Thrace till after he had had great War with a Neighbouring Prince Sovereign of Taurica Chersonesus and pretending to the Kingdom of Thrace by a great many Reasons that he alledged saying That he was descended from the lawful Kings of that Kingdom and quarrelling upon these pretensions with the King my Father as an Usurper divers persons affirmed that his pretensions were just enough and grounded their Discourse upon very probable Arguments but howsoever it was there was a great deal of blood shed in this quarrel and though the King my Father was more strong in men and had larger Dominions than his Enemy the events of the War were a long while doubtful and possibly it would not have been ended a long time if Anthony had not interposed his Authority to bring them to agreement a little before that War wherein he decided the Empire of the Universe with Augustus and in which the King my Father kept him faithful Company and served him with his Person and his Forces These two Princes either willingly or out of fear remitted their interests into Anthonies hands who being favourable to our Family dismissed the King of Chersonesus from the pretensions he had to the Crown of Thrace yet leaving him a small part of that Kingdom joining to Chersonesus which his Father and all his Predecessors had alwayes possessed by means of a Tribute which they annually paid to the King of Thrace which he obliged him to pay as before After this Accord my Father continued peaceable in his Dominions and the King of Taurica though he thought himself ill-used lived at peace with his Neighbour whom he knew to be more strong than he but he dyed almost at the same time that the King my Father did and left his Dominions to a Son which he had almost of the same Age with the King my Brother a fierce and haughty man but of exceeding Valour and born with all the necessary qualities for a great Warrior He had already acquired great Reputation in the War which the Queen of Dacia made in Scythia And though he had some disadvantage against the Valiant Alcamenes Prince of the Scythians and had been constrained to renounce the pretensions he had to the Princess of Dacia 't was certain for all that that he had rendred his Name famous by a hundred gallant Actions This Prince named Merodates being not contented with what was allotted him but complaining of the injustice which was done him by the judgment of Anthony after the death of my Father was oftentimes upon the point of taking up Arms to begin the War afresh upon the old pretensions of his Family but he saw himself unequal in Forces and though he was rash enough yet being prudent withall he dissembled part of his designs in expectation of an occasion to discover them when he should be in a condition publickly to undertake the execution of them endeavouring in the mean while to gain and keep some intelligences in Thrace and sowing the seeds of Discontentment and Rebellion in the minds of the Thracians who are naturally inconstant and unfaithful and to whom besides I know not by what misfortune my Brothers Government was not very agreeable Adallas having had some suspition of Merodates's practices and seeing him otherwise very slow and backward to pay him the Tribute which he owed him for the Lands which he permitted him to possess in Thrace after he had caused it to be sharply demanded of him and not receiving present satisfaction he sent his Troops into those places which he held in Thrace and they being ill furnished for defence against the Forces of a mighty King Adallas quickly made himself Master of them and absolutely dispossessed Merodates leaving nothing in his power within the limits of Thrace After this Adallas might believe that his Enemy would lose no opportunity he could meet with to revenge himself and knowing him to be haughty and full of Courage he had a reason to fear him or at least not to leave him in a condition to express his resentments and yet the gods whom the unlawful passion of the King my Brother had provoked against him permitted him to be so blinded That he did not only neglect to put himself into a condition to keep his Enemy within his limits but as destiny would have it a little while after I flying from his Court and Kingdom as I have related to you his passion did so transport him and did so close his eyes against all other considerations that without foreseeing the evils which apparently threatned him he committed the whole Government of his Dominions into the hands of his Favorite Eurimedes and running whither his Folly carried him He went to Sea with one single Vessel and being attended only with a hundred men taking no greater Equipage with him which might discover him in the design he had to search all the Seas all incognito till he had met with me He had been two Months at Sea to no purpose when he landed at the little Island where we had suffered Ship-wrack and as I told you we had stayed two Months in Cyprus when these two men came back to us and brought us News of the Disasters which in those four Months were hapned in his Kingdom They informed us then That a little after his departure Merodates seeing so fair an occasion for his revenge and for the recovery of his Countrey came in with all
in the hands of the gods and that he ought not to dispose so confidently of that which he will do after the Victory and yet his threatings shall not hinder me from praying to the gods for the prosperity of his Arms and the interest of my Countrey but let him consider more than twice what will be the event of the design which he hath against Ariamenes 's life and let him expect if he treats him ill to draw upon himself a greater and more puissant Enemy than Merodates is I will not trouble you with the Relation of my fears and inquietudes but to abridge this Narration I will pass to Adallas's Camp and will tell you that the King my Brother seeing his Forces augmented and those of his Enemy weakned thought himself strong enough to give him Battel and his passion depriving him in part of his ordinary rationality and hindring him from foreseeing all the consequences that might happen thereupon he dared Merodates to an Encounter and marched out of his Camp to advance towards him Merodates being a very valiant and well experienced Captain and who might with less hazzard give Battel in his Enemies Countrey than if he had been in his own joyfully accepted of it and marched to meet Adallas in the best order that can be imagined I will not entertain you either with the preparations or the particulars of that dayes Action having too little skill in War to be able to give you a pertinent Account I will only tell you that after both Princes had provided on either side whatsoever they thought necessary for their advantage they gave Battel The Engagement was cruel and doubtful the Commanders and Souldiers did wonders and disputed the advantage with the effusion of a great deal of blood and the death of divers thousands of men But at last the same Fortune which had accompanied Merodates in the two former Battels attended him likewise in the third and about the end of the day our Troops turning their backs abandoned the Victory to him and the liberty of their King Who scorning to owe his safety to a base flight and fighting with a great deal of Valor was thrown to the ground and taken Prisoner with divers of his Souldiers who were resolved to be Companions of his destiny Behold the success of the proud and insolent Propositions of men and behold this ingrateful and audacious Prince who a few hours before hasting as he thought to a Victory only to go and sheath his Sword in the bosome of his Benefactor saw himself the same day a Prisoner to his Enemy and to such an Enemy who to confirm his Conquest which was but ill-assured so long as the lawful King of Thrace was living was very likely to make use of the same designs against him which he had against Ariamenes and might do it with so much the more Justice because that in putting him to death he should only destroy an Enemy whom a Conqueror could not in policy permit to live and not the Deliverer and Defender of his State and life I do not doubt but that the unfortunate Adallas made these reflections in his imprisonment and was cruelly tormented with Sorrow Fear and Repentance Yet Merodates treated him very civilly and though the greatest Polititians about him counselled him to send him out of the World as soon as might be and represented to him that after his death he need not feare any opposition in Thrace where otherwise he could never hope to be quiet as long as Adallas was living yet he was not forward to frame any such resolution but believed that the death of a great King was not of so small a consequence to be so suddenly and so easily resolved upon Besides in gaining the Victory he had lost almost as many men as we and his Forces not being in a condition to make a hot pursuit gave time to ours to retire under the conduct of some of their Commanders who led them back towards Bizantium in good order This consideration making Merodates judge that as yet he was not absolute Master of Thrace especially as long as Ariamenes whose Valor he was too well acquainted with and whose confinement he had heard of was in the service of his Enemy hindred him from determining what to do with him and contented himself at present to keep him in secure Custody causing him to be served like a Prince in his condition He had the curiosity to see him the same day that he was taken and though in other things he carried himself very modestly towards him yet he could not forbear to tell him That the gods had punished him for two Crimes wherewith his Reputation was very much blemished in the eye of the world which were his unjust and irrational love to his Sister and his ingratitude towards his Benefactor and to these words added he You were much to blame to deprive your self in a time of necessity of such an assistance as you had received from the Valor of Ariamenes had it not been for him I had been long since Master of Thrace and if he had commanded your Troops this day I durst not have promised my self that I should have been Victorious The King being full of grief and confusion gave no Answer to Merodates's words wherein he knew there was a great deal of Justice and Truth and Merodates not desiring to make any insolent use of his Fortune did not importune him any farther In the mean time my fair Princesses you may partly conjecture what my thoughts were when this News was brought to Bizantium and how my Soul was divided between the passions which assaulted it 'T is certain that I was sorry to hear of the defeat of our men the loss of a Kingdom which in all probability was upon the brink of ruine and the Captivity of a Prince who though he had not those intentions for me which he ought was nevertheless my Brother and my King The gods are my witnesses that I was very much afflicted at his misfortune and ours but they will pardon me and you too my princesses if I confess to you That the repugnance which I had against Adallas's love the resentment wherein I did very much interesâ— my self of his ingratitude to Ariamenes and theâ— sear I was in for Ariobarzanes's life did so suspend the judgment I should have made of my Fortune that certainly I did not bestow all the tears I should have done upon the calamity of our Family and which at another time without doubt I should have shed I could not think with my self that the King my Brother was a Prisoner to his Enemies and in great danger of his life that the Affairs of the Kingdome were in an undone condition and that we were in all probability upon the point of seeing our selves exposed to the miseries of Tyranny and Captivity without being sensible of a great deal of displeasure But upon the other side I could not conceive that I was
freed from the cruel importunity of Adallas that Ariamenes had escaped the cruel design which he had taken against his life and that I might possibly have the opportunity to restore him absolutely to his liberty and to put him again into a condition of giving me new marks of his Affection without receiving a great deal of comfort upon that score and the gods were pleased immediately to make it as compleat as I could desire For the Inhabitants of Bizantium had no sooner heard of the loss of the Battel and the Captivity of the King but after they had bestowed a few hours upon the first All-arms and the first Affright which ordinarily renders the people incapable of all resolution after they had replenished the City with their cries and groans rather out of fear and the consideration of their own interest than out of the love they bare to their Prince They assembled at last in great Troops and putting the most considerable men formost they marched towards the Palace where I was crying out aloud in the streets That I was their only lawful Princess and that in the Absence and Captivity of their King they could address themselves to no body but me nor receive Orders from any one but my self No body contradicted this Discourse of the people or if it was disapproved by some their Party was the weaker and they durst not rely upon it You need not doubt but that I received a great deal of satisfaction when I saw all the people at my feet to give me the absolute Command over them and to pray me to advise with my Council to find some means to save the remainders of Thrace if it was possible I could not have wished for an handsomer occasion of setting Ariamenes at liberty and seeing the people so well disposed to follow my will My Friends said I to the cheif of them the King hath great cause to be satisfied in your Fidelity and I will acquaint him with it when the gods shall be pleased to restore him to us but I am too weak to undertake your defence and the recovery of his liberty you have need of some valiant man to repulse the fury of your Enemies which threatens your gates and lives and to command the remainder of your Forces The people having signified to me by their loud out-cries That they approved of my opinion and having prayed me divers times to appoint them a Commander Where can you find one added I than in the person of Ariamenes Was it not he that with a handful of men defended your Walls against the same Enemies that threaten you Was it not he that repulsed them with loss and confusion though they were much stronger than now they are VVas it not he that defeated them by Sea and by Land in all manner of Encounters And briefly VVas it not he alone that saved you either from death or Captivity VVhat hinders you from knocking off his Fetters which he wears for nothing else but for having defended you too well and from making him once more your General Go my friends and restore liberty to your generous Defender to a great Prince who of his own good will hath been prodigal of his blood and life for your interests to the Son of a great King whom your King being reduable to him for his life and the preservation of his Dominions hath imprisoned only upon a motive which honest Men and his faithful Subjects cannot approve of Do not fear that your Prince will complain of you if you restore him to liberty he will only make use of it to endeavour his and besides the assurance I give you that the King will look upon this Action as the greatest Service he could receive from you if there be any fault lay it all upon me seeing I advise and order you to do it and I will go along with you my self to put that in execution which I have propounded to you These words being pronounced with a great deal of Action were so far from finding any contradiction that they were seconded by a general shout of all the people who publickly desired Ariamenes and began to proclaim his praises and the greatness of his Actions with so much affection that it easily made me understand that by the Proposition I had made to them I had only prevented the Design which they had to desire him of me Eusthenes himself who had him in Custody signified to me That he desired nothing but an absolute Command from me for his discharge to the King And in fine having found all the facility I could desire I was willing to render the Prince some part of what I owed him to go break his Chains my self and draw him out of a danger whereinto he was fallen only for the love of me This Action had something of very handsome in it and being attended by all the people who loudly ecchoed out the Name of Ariamenes I went to the place where he was imprisoned I caused the Gates to be opened to me with Authority and being accompanied by the principal Citizens of Bizantium I went to his very chamber He had already heard of the Success of the Battel and the King 's being taken and that was it which hindred him from being surprized as he would have been without doubt at another time He seemed for all that to be very much astonished at the sight of me and running to me after he had employed some moments in recollecting himself he fell upon his knees before me without speaking a word My confusion was no less than his out of the fear I had to express my Affection too largely in this Encounter And yet summoning up all my Courage to assist me in the Action which I was to do after I had reached him my hand to raise him up We come said I to free you from a place where the Thracians cannot without too much shame behold their valiant Defender and we are sorry that we cannot acknowledge the greatness of your Services by a recompence more worthy of you Receive Ariamenes receive your liberty from the hand of Olympia but for her sake endeavour the recovery of the King her Brothers freedom with your accustomed Valor and in regard of the Service you receive from the Sister forget the offence you have received from the Brother I hope thus much from your Generosity and upon that confidence I desire you together with all the people who implore your assistance to reassume the Command which heretofore you accepted over them and over the Force which are left us and to employ that Valor whereof you have given them such admirable proofs for their protection and the safty of their Prince Ariobarzanes hearkned to all this Discourse upon his knees and beginning to speak in the same posture after I had done speaking Madam said he I receive the liberty you restore me and the Command you lay upon me with that respect I ought to do and
fatal to Ariamenes as to Merodates and consider once more that it will be in thine own power without injuring thy Reputation to be the Friend of Merodates revenger upon Adallas and possessor of Olympia This was Merodates's Letter which Ariobarzanes readd with some astonishment and found it very different from what he expected It was written with a great deal of Artifice and likelihood of Truth and Merodates had forgotten nothing which probably might move a man very much injured and very amorous All the reason in the World seemed to be upon his side and certainly there were but few men whom this hope of becoming possessor of a person beloved by such wayes as his just resentment might in some sort save his honour would not have caused to waver and it may be have absolutely convinced but the vertue of Ariobarzanes was very remote from this Proposition and neither all his resentment against the Brother nor all his love to the Sister kept him one moment unresolved what in point of Duty to do He gave the Letter smiling to some of his Officers which were near him See said he what opinion they have of us and with what Arms they would encounter with us In the mean time he returned an Answer to Merodates which as I take it was in these Terms Prince Ariamenes to Merodates Prince of Chersonesus IF thou hadst really valued my Courage thou would'st not have ventured upon the Proposion which thou hast made me and 't is but a bad Testimony of thy Amity and Esteem to counsel me to baseness When thou didst detest Ingratitude and bemoan my Disgrace thou didst follow the motions of thy Vertue but without doubt thou wert not guided by that when thou didst propose to me to betray a People who have absolutely committed themselves and their destiny to my Conduct If I would be revenged upon Adallas it should not be whil'st he is a Prisoner and if I would pretend to the possession of Olympia it should not be by unworthy meaus if it please the gods that I shall obtain her she will be much more gloriously acquired by me when I shall have restored to her Family the Crown of her Ancestors when I shall have chased her Enemies out of her Countrey and when I shall have brought back her Brother with Freedom and Victory than when by a base Treason I shall have dishonoured all the Actions of my life and rendred my self unworthy of her Esteem I thank thee for the Dignities which thou offerest me but if thou knewest me thou wouldst possibly understand that the Prince of Chersonesus hath no Dignities in his power that are worth Ariamenes 's acceptance Yet I will not disdain thy Amity when I may receive it without Reproach and possibly thou wilt judge me more worthy of it than thou didst before when thou shalt have seen me in the Field near enough to take an exact knowledge of me This was the use that Ariobarzanes made of Merodates's offers and the next day according to the deliberation which he had formerly taken he dislodged his Troops to march towards the Town where the King was kept Prisoner As he had no design to conceal his march so it was presently taken notice of by Merodates and being it was not Merodates's intention to suffer that place to be taken which he knew was not strong enough to endure the first Assault he discamped his Army and marched to meet Ariamenes His Troops were stronger still than ours and composed of men better versed in War than those which we had drawn out from amongst the Citizens of Bizantium and this was that which easily diposed him to a Battel not believing that Ariamenes as valiant as he was could stop the course of his Victories and Fortune The Armies having not far to march before they met were quickly one in sight of another and then it was that their valiant Generals employed their utmost cares to facilitate the Victory Neither of them forgot any thing that might conduce thereunto and I understood afterwards that Ariamenes having ranged his men in such an order as my incapacity doth not permit me to describe made a speech to them with so much Eloquence and Gallantry that he inspired them with a more than natural ardor and animated them by his Discourse and Example to attempts beyond his expectation I cannot inform you of the particulars of that Battel which possibly was the most bloody and the best disputed that was ever fought between two Armies of their strength Above eight long hours the Success continued doubtful and uncertain and in that time the Troops on either side were almost absolutely defeated The Generals were extreamly valiant and their Souldiers seconded them with all their power Merodates's men had an advantage over ours by reason of the Number of those who were drawn out of Bizantium who being a great deal less used to War than the rest much weakned our Party But the brave Ariamenes did so well supply their default and did so encourage them both by his words and his great Actions that he made them do that which could hardly have been expected from Veteran Souldiers and in fine confirmed them in the resolution to suffer themselves to be cut in pieces or to purchase that day the peace and repose of their Countrey Alas how much blood did these gallant resolutions of both Parties cause to be shed on either side and how many deaths made that day famous in the memory of the Thracians A great part of the day was spent when at last that Fortune which had so inseparably accompanied Merodates against Adallas and Eurimedes began to give ground before Ariamenes and by the prodigious efforts of that young Prince the remainder of the Troops of Chersonesus began by little and little to give way to ours and looked as if they were about to quit the Victory Merodates perceiving â—t and being filled with despair at the knowledge of it did things above beleife to recover the advantage we had gotten and to preserve that which the precedent Battels had acquired him He rode from rank to rank with a Martial countenance and by his ardent endeavours turned his Forces more than once upon ours with such an impetuosity as made the event of Battel a long time doubtful Ariamenes who had fought for him all that day as much as the Functions of his charge could permit him having percieved him and taken notice of him by several marks charged up to him with an exclamation and an action which discovered him to his Enemy and when he was near enough to be understood by him Merodates cryed he there is blood enough shed spare that which remains of thy Party if thou can st possibly and let us finish the destiny of this day in our own persons Thou shalt see by that proof whether I be worthy of thy Amity or not and thou wilt not dishonour thy Arms in employing them against a Prince whose Birth is
with a great cry and being desirous to try if I could divert him from his resolution by my presence and my Discourse Euribiades said I Do you so little consider what you owe to your Princess and will you murther him before her face who ought to be her Husband a Prince from whom you have received such good Offices Madam briskly replied Euribiades I am very sorry that I have received this Commission but my life lies at stake if I do not obey my King Begin with me then cryed I and make thy passage through my heart to hurt Ariobarzanes Thou hast no other way open to come at him and thou must shed all my blood before thou spillest the first drop of his As I spake these words I kept close to the door being resolved to be killed there rather than give them passage and I plainly saw that my words immediately raised a murmur amongst those men and in conclusion drew Ten or twelve more of them to our Party who with the same Courage as the first came to join with them and entred into my Cabin by the other door which belonged to Ariobarzanes's Cabin 'T was the same way that Euribiades would have rushed in at with some of his Party making some difficulty to pass over me and fearing to put me in danger of my life betwixt the Swords ofboth Parties but he found the Prince at the entry who being compleatly Armed and holding his Shield in his left hand did so defend the passage against him that the two first that came fell dead at his seet Antenor and his Companions with the Princes Domesticks amounting in all to the Number of Seventy men or threabout ranked themselves about him and did so encourage themselves by his Valor that they quickly made Euribiades know that without losing a good part of his men he could not execute his Design And t is certain that if he had resolved to sorce his entrance into the Cabin and to sight in a narrow place where he could not make use of all his advantages though he had been a great deal stronger he would have gotten nothing but shame and loss but judging that if they fought at large the Prince though endued with never so admirable Valor would not be able with Threescore men to sustain the brunt of a Hundred and sixty he commanded them to pull down the Boards of both Cabins and to lay all the top of the Vessel open That which he commanded was put in execution with so much speed that within a few moments there was no separation between the Cabins and the rest of the Vessel and the Prince was necessitated to resolve to defend himself by open force against his Enemies who had liberty to assail him on every side and so he did with such prodigious effects of Valor that his Enemies trembled at it and were more afraid of his fury than of as many men more as made up their Number Few that came near him retired without receiving mortal wounds at his hands and sometimes advancing before his Company and flying amongst the Barbarians like a Lyon he killed the boldest of them and made the rest retreat to the side of the Vessel Whil'st these things passed I sent up cryes and prayers towards Heaven and detesting Adallas's black infidelity I begged assistance of the gods with a face quite drowned in tears Above twenty men of the Princes party were already slain and above forty of our Enemies when Ariobarzanes seeing Euribiades eagerly pursuing his Destruction and encouraging his men with his voice as much as was possible he resolved either to hasten his own death or to be the death of that cruel man Though he had alwayes had this intention he was so close beset that he had not the opportunity to put it in execution but then despising all Dangers and Obstacles he flew immediately to him through all those that defended him and in spite of all their resistance he thrust his Sword into his body up to the Hilts. This revenge which for all that he could not execute without receiving some slight wounds redoubled his fierceness and seeing him fall dead amongst his men Thou shalt not rejoyce said he in the Success of thy Enterprize and thou shalt not carry Adallas the News of Ariobarzanes death now Euribiades is dead His men were not discouraged for all that for he had a Nephew amongst them who being afflicted at the loss of his Uncle animated them to revenge it and fell on amongst the formost with a great deal of eagerness What shall I say more unto you The Combat was very hot and was maintained in such a manner that all the Vessel swam with blood and the Deck was covered with dead bodies the cryes of the wounded and dying men reached Heaven with a terrible noise and I did so accompany them with mine and my Maids who melted into tears round about me that possibly there was never seen such a spectacle of Desolation and Terror At last the valiant Ariobarzanes after he had done things above all credibility and had covered himself from head to foot with the blood of his Enemies with the assistance of his faithful Defenders had sacrificed above a Hundred of them to his vengeance but against Threescore and above that still opposed him he had not above Twelve or Fifteen left and those almost all covered over with wounds and though by great good luck and the assistance of his Arms he had received but very slight wounds yet he was so wearied and tyred that he could hardly heave up his Arm or hold his Sword and there was great probability that ere long he would fall amongst the rest considering that he was neither immortal nor invulnerable when contrary to our expectation the gods sent in to our assistance three men which the trouble we were in had hindred us from discovering and which invironed our Ship before that we had scarcely perceived them This sight having transported me with joy I ran to the first men that I saw appear and stretching out my hands to them in a supplicating posture I conjured them to assist against the cruelty of our Enemies Without returning any Answer to my words they did what I desired of them and after they had stayed a little while to look upon the inequality of the Combat they grapled our Vessel and entred in it three places at once They presently assisted the weakest side and having easily by reason of their Number cut in pieces the greated part of our Enemies the rest of them threw down their Arms and cryed out for Quarter At the same time the Prince not being able to stand any longer for weakness and weariness sate down amongst the dead bodies leaning his back against the Mast and letting his Head and Arms fall into a careless posture not having strength either to thank his Defenders or to stir out of his place I presently ran to him seeing him in that condition and
and Agrippa's and Cornelius's men to defend him still as they had begun At the same time Tigranes being recovered from under his Horse and mounted again the Combat began more furiously than before and the King of the Medes being vexed at his bad Fortune which had laid him twice upon the ground and at the resistance that was made against his Design when he thought that nothing could possibly retard it encouraging his men with his voyce and example quickly caused the earth to be covered with divers bodies of either party 'T is true he could not choose but be afraid of Artaban's approaches and as couragious as he was he often grew pale at the mighty blows he saw him give And 't was not without reason that he feared him for if this redoubtable Warrior had been but Master of his ordinary strength and provided with good Arms all the obstacles he met with could not have hindred him from killing Tigranes in the midst of all his men and as he was he dispatched two of those whom their Prince loved best before his face with two furious blows he cut off a third mans Arm and gave Tigranes himself a blow which gliding down his Armor upon which his Sword did not fall right hit upon his Horses Neck and gave him a great wound wherewith he was quite covered with blood but almost at the same time his own Horse had received divers hurts under him and began to stagger being ready to fall Besides the Number of the Medes far surpassing those that defended Artaban and they being some of the bravest men of their Nation this valiant man was still in danger of his life when they saw a Body of above Fifty Horse coming from Alexandria and presently those that fought for Elisa cried out with a great deal of joy that 't was Agrippa and Cornelius And indeed they were the same persons whom the good Destiny of Elisa and Artaban had conducted forth to meet the Princesses and having met first with Queen Candace all in tears she gave them a short Account of Elisa's misfortune and the danger of those persons that fought in her Defence Agrippa having rendred what was due to the fair Queen and leaving the care to Cornelius to cause her to remount into the Chariot he flew in like an inraged Lion upon this occasion to serve the Princess whom he adored and immediately seeking for Tigranes as for an Enemy that would deprive him of that he loved he had no sooner discovered him but he charged him with a fury that was fatal to the first that came within the reach of his Sword Elisa seeing him do it did not forget to entreat his assistance but her requests were unnecessary at a time when he was sufficiently animated by his own interest though otherwise he had vertue enough to do only upon the motive of his Duty whatsoever his love could exact of him Tigranes seeing this storm falling upon him and finding himself incapable to resist it got presently out of the Throng and understanding that it was Agrippa that charged him he cryed out to his men to yield and desired to speak with Agrippa Agrippa whom no passion could transport beyound the bounds of his Duty stayed at Tigranes's words and commanding his men to do so too he gave Audience to the King of the Medes as he desired The Combat ceased almost in a moment and all the Combatants drawing up about their Masters Tigranes on the one side at the head of his Troop and Artaban on the other side with Elisa whom he accosted presented themselves before Agrippa Tigranes beginning to speak first and knowing very well that he spake to a man whose Name was venerable to all that acknowlegded the Roman Empire My Lord Agrippa said he I know not what offence we have done you to be treated thus as your mortal Enemies and to see you embrew your weapons in the blood of my men who have not by any Action merited either Augustus's or Agrippa's Enmity Though I appear here in a condition unconformable to my quality I am King of the Medes and I do not think you would deal with Princes of my Rank as with common persons Persons of your rank said Agrippa if you be indeed what you speak your self do not discover themselves by such Actions as drew our Arms against you and not knowing you otherwise than by the condition wherein I saw you I could not treat you otherwise than as a man whom I found shedding the blood of our men and violently carrying away a Princess who hath taken Refuge between Cesar 's Arms. The Princess that I would carry away replied Tigranes is my lawful Spouse whom the King her Father in the face of the whole World delivered to my Ambassadors after that the Marriage was publickly Celebrated So that I cannot believe that either Agrippa or Augustus himself should think it strange that I should take her as being her Husband to conduct her to the Throne where she ought to command And if I have killed some of your men not knowing them 't was because they undertook the Defence of an insolent Fellow who having no other Advantages but what he hath acquired by his Sword and what he hath received by the Favours I have done him hath taken the Queen my Wife out of the hands of my Ambassadors hath brought her by Sea into this Countrey where I have met with her and hath opposed the Design which I had to take her again as my own Tigranes had spoken more if the impatient Artaban had not boldly interrupted him That Fellow said he who hath no other Advantages but those of his Sword is the same that wearing that Sword in thy Service without being obliged to it by any considerations preserved thy Crown when it was ready to fall into the hands of the King of the Parthians and that by the breach of thy word being become thy Enemy shamefully chased thee out of the Countries which that Sword had given thee defeated thee in a pitched Field took thee Prisoner gave thee thy liberty which thou didst not deserve and seeing thee return again in Arms vanquished thee in divers Battels and snatched that Crown from off thy Head which he had formerly setled upon it if such a man be worthy of thy scorn and cannot boast of any other Advantages than the Favours thou hast done him I appeal to the judgment of the great Agrippa who is sufficiently known to all the World to make me believe that Vertue is no less considerable to him than the lustre of a Crown From the time that Artaban had begun to speak Agrippa had begun to look upon him with Admiration and not only the mine of this valiant person might cause the astonishment and attract the attention of all that beheld him but the great things likewise which hapned in the Empires of the Medes and Parthians by the Valor of Artaban being spread over all the Earth had
despised it and to tell him in terms which rather expressed the Despair than Courage of a Maid that he ought not to hope for more from the Empire his Fortune had given him over mine which when he endeavoured to abuse I alwayes knew where to find after the example of the Queen my Mother and mine own Courage a Remedy to free me from his Tyranny I was obliged to these bold words for an effect which I durst not hope for and the Emperor was so affected with them that from that moment he protested That he would never use violence against the blood of Antony and Cleopatra and that if the love and servces of Tiberius could not overcome me I was secure for the future from any thing that I could fear from him in favour of the Son of Livia He punctually observed this promise and on what manner soever Livia could sollicite him for her Son he would never permit them to employ any other Arms against me than those ordinarily made use of to gain love If this Justice of Augustus was pleasant to me amidst my displeasures it was nothing less unpleasant to Tiberius and whereas he but newly began to leave his Chamber and would not in a long time be in a condition to receive an intire Cure it had almost cast his life into the same danger from whence it was scarce crept out He complained to the Emperess and accused Cesar's change with more passion than reason and did all the things that were possible to cause him to revoke the promise which he made me but he attempted it in vain and though the Emperor and Emperess by intreatics made many essayes to perswade me yet their only Arms were sweetnesses and promises and I heard no more threatnings The Emperor was so much the more commendable for this observation of his word having a few dayes after according to his opinion causes sufficiently legitimate to render ill Offices to Coriolanus by the News which he received of the Arrival of that Prince in Mauritania and of the Revolt of that Kingdom in favour of its legitimate Prince At first Cesar despised this News not believing what knowledge soever he had of the Valor and Prudence of the Son of Juba that one man without any other Forces than those whom he could arm by his presence could do any great matters in a Countrey subject to the Roman Scepter and peaceably subjected for more than Twenty years but a little after he heard of such beginnings that made him something doubt the success and that not only many Cities having chased away or devoured the Roman Garrisons were fallen to his Party and so given him the means of forming the Body of a formidable Army but also that with those Troops he had defeated Fourteen or fifteen Thousand men conducted by Canidius one of the Lieutenants of Volufius Praetor of Mauritania Cesar was moved in good earnest at this News and vowed more solemnly than before the destruction of Coriolanus yet did alwayes imagine that this Prince would be too weak to resist the Forces of Volusius But though the Emperor was vexed at this success of Coriolanus's Arms yet was it no dissatisfaction to me Albeit the lustre of a Crown was incapable of adding any thing to the affection and esteem I bare him and I found that in his single person which I sought not in the recovery of his Ancestors Dignities It is certain that having seen him depart to seek a Crown for me only resolving as he would say not to abase the Daughter of Antony to the condition of a dispoyled and miserable Prince I could not without much joy receive the intelligence of these happy beginnings of his Enterprize and too great were my concernments in his glory to hear the recital of his brave actions without taking therein that contentment which I ought The generous Octavia to whom I had descovered nothing of my knowledge of Coriolanus's design believing she owed so much to the blood of Cesar as to hinder her participating in the Counsel of his Enemies having been alwayes very affectionate to the interests of that Prince made me an excellent Discourse upon this occasion and half-confident that I was not ignorant of Coriolanus's Designs she gave me thanks for not putting her discretion to so much hazard between the respect she owed to Cesar and the affection she bare to the interests of Coriolanus which she believed to be mine also assuring me continually that what he had done against Cesar had not made her his Enemy and that she found so much Justice in his design of conserving Cleopatra and recovering the Kingdom of his Ancestors that it was impossible for her to condemn him The Princesses her Daughters as well those which were my Sisters by the Fathers side as those which she had by Marcellus her first Husband loving me equally with a sincere amity discovered their thoughts more openly and freely opening their hearts to me they protested their hearty wishes were That Coriolanus might ascend the Throne of Juba But the Prince Marcellus their Brother interessed himself after another manner in the Affairs of his Friend and although he made me a light complaint of the little confidence Coriolanus had put in him yet he judged that his secresie was an effect of his discretion and the consideration he had for the Nephew of Cesar he became so passionately sollicitous for the success of this Enterprize that if the often testimonies thereof had not been amongst persons well-effected to him he had run the hazard of drawing some disgrace upon himself Nor was he intirely exempted for the Emperor who was not ignorant of their friendship asking him one day what were his thoughts concerning the War of Mauritania Marcellus who could not intirely disguize them though respect laid a constraint upon his tongue answered he was more troubled that Coriolanus had incur'd the displeasure of Cesar than he could be for the loss of Mauritania The Emperor found this Discourse too obliging for his Enemy and could not receive it from Marcellus but with a srown but a little after considering that Vertue had formed this friendship between these two Princes and knowing Marcellus too well to suspect him of an intelligence wherein there was any thing of base he satisfied himself with not calling him to the Council wherein they debated matters against his Friend and went no further in any evil design against him for his sidelity to his Friend in both Fortunes and here the Emperors great inclination for him proved very advantagious to him Livia and Tiberius failed not to improve this occasion with all their power forgetting nothing that might perswade Cesar that Marcellus was not ignorant of his Friends designs During this Tiberius visited me with his ordinary persecutions but with less pride and confidence in his Fortune since the hopes were lost which he had placed in the Authority of Cesar but though his designs had lost this advantage they nevertheless
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
not angry yet blushed and became much disordered and keeping her eyes fixt on the ground as unable to lift them to Alcamenes's face she remained silent The Prince who stedfastly beheld her Countenance and finding nothing there of cruel but much more bashfulness than choler became more hardy than before and putting one knee to the ground some paces from the Princess Divine Princess said he if I have offended you ordain with what manner of death you will punish my boldness only grant me the favour as to believe that if our adorations offend not the Gods you can receive no injury from those my heart intertains for you This heart was yours from the first moment I saw you and shall be yours till the last moment of my life you may disapprove it you may condemne it but you cannot by death draw it out of this gloricus servitude Here he stopped and after Menalippa's example fastned his eyes on the ground and if the Princess had regarded his action she might have seen that fear took possession of his heart in this encounter which it had never been able to do in the greatest dangers Menalippa was joyful that he loved her and she loved him dearly yet knew not how to express her self or treat him She was not ignorant of the Rules of good manners and she had a natural disposition to punish with rigour faults of the like nature with this of Alcimedon yet had she no dissembling spirit nor could receive with appearances of dislike those things which she desired with all her heart This irresolution made her keep a long silence at length a little raising her eyes upon Acimedon whose humble posture helpt to gain her Stranger said she if I behold thy boldness with rigour I should judge it worthy of punishment but if I follow my inclinations I shall do thee no harm thy temerity alone is all I can dislike in thee but nothing of the rest is odious to Menalippa and if thou wilt have her tell thee any more first let her know who is this audacious man that without giving us any other knowledge than that of his Sword dares lift his eyes to the Princess of Dacia on the accompt thou givest her may depend a great part of thy destiny And I tell thee further thou wilt not disoblige Menalippa in letting her know thee to be such a one whose affection she may entertain without offence These words heightned the courage of the Prince of Scythia Divine Menalippa said he with more assurance than before death shall be less cruel to me than any occasions of disobeying you but I am constrained by a necessity which when you know you will certainly pardon for some Months to conceal both the Birth and Fortune of Alcimedon and the gods are my Witnesses that it is only my respect to you that causeth this difficulty in a short time you shall receive a knowledg of me confirm'd by the testimony of all EUROPE and therefore great Princess permit me to say that though in all sorts of great qualities I am infinitely your Inferior yet in Nobility of blood in Dignity and Dominions my House gives place neither to yours nor any in EUROPE and if you are satisfied with the person of Alcimedon that which ought to accompany him to render him worthy of you will be here sound more advantagiously than in all the other Princes who have taken upon them the honour of serving you In the Name of the gods and by your bounty pardon me if I can discover no more When the term of this cruel constraint shall be expired I will declare my self wholly to you without expecting a second command during which time I shall desire no further favour than those I have received from you nor pretend to any thing from your bounty which may in the least ingage you before these truths are sufficiently known and until the Queen your Mother with all the Court of Dacia do confess that Alcimedon is a Prince great enough to pretend openly to the glory of serving you Alcimedon finished not this Discourse but with much difficulty finding a strong aversion to disobey the command of Menalippa But this fair Princess was so intricated on all sides as if the were troubled in being unable to learn of Alcimedon that which she desired yet what he related concerning his Birth and Fortune did highly satisfie her and as she had too much confidence in his vertue to suspect him of a lye and of a lye which could but be unprofitable by his own conditions her contentment became so great that she could hardly dissemble it And beholding Alcimedon with an affectionate sweetness As I am more reasonable than many others said she and that visibly I act with more sincerity than artifice I will excuse for your Reasons the denial you make me but I beseech you not to abuse that good opinion which will have me believe that all you say is true Alcimedon falling on his knees and with Transports imbracing her feet My visible Deity said he if this heart were capable of disguising it self from you it were not that heart-burning for you with a passion the most holy a Soul can be inflamed with and I desire you to banish me your presence as that man of all the World the most unworthy to adore you if before I pretend to any other favour than this of imbracing your sacred knees I present not in the person of Alcimedon one of the greatest Princes of the Universe He uttered these words with an Action so passionate and Menalippa read so much love in his eyes that unable to master the motions of her affection after she had offered her hand with an Action full of sweetness and Majesty Friend said she if this be true Menalippa shall never be anie 's but thine but if to my unhappiness it prove false she shall never be to any one at all Finishing these words she carried one hand to her face to cover a blush and with the other locking upon that of Alcamenes and raising him Alcimedon added she you have gained my heart with too much facility but believe that it is my destiny and inclination which hath given it you rather than your Services and so carry it that I may never have cause to complain of the one or the other to day I will entertain you but no longer Finishing these words she went out of the Cabinet but it was in a condition and with a countenance so changed that had it been observed by the Company they might have feared some dysaster had befallen her But Alcimedon was so transported with joy that it was hard for those who saw him that day not to discern in his face the satisfaction of his heart and no sooner had he quitted the Princess by her command and recollected himself concerning his good Fortune but he found his felicity too great to be contained and scarce in the impetuous motions of his youth could he
if it be true that I have succoured my Father with successe it is as true that this sight of Menalippa which you ordained me is the greatest misfortune that can happen to me in my life since by this visit I have found her more cruel and inexorable than I could have imagined nor have I seen her O Gods but to present my Sword unto her beautiful breast and to draw blood from her fair Body Speaking thus he felt his Grief boyl into rage and casting his eys by chance upon the Sword which he had used in the Battel and upon which he might still have observed some drops of Menalippa's blood had not the mixture of so much which he had spilt that day confounded it Perfidious instrument of my crime cry'd he the first service thou hast rendred me hath been sufficiently fatal to me if I had the Sword of Alcimedon which I left with Cleomenes and which is now in Menalippa 's power it would possibly better than I have known Alcimedon 's divinity and would have denyed obedience to the sacrilegious hand which drew it against her but this first service shall be the last I will receive from thee for I shall be ashamed to wear the criminal steel that hath drawn blood from Menalippa Saying thus he brake it into several pieces not without a revery of some moments whether it were not better to plunge it into his breast Thus did he passe the Night tormenting himself and the day appearing ere he had either sought or found a moment of rest one of his Squires who entred his Chamber related that the Queen Amalthea under pretence of carrying off her dead demanded of the King Eight Days Truce Alcamenes who well knew into what condition the Enemy was reduced and that if the King would take his advantage he might ruine them in a day had reason to fear that he would refuse the Queens demand and finding himself too culpable towards Menalippa he sent and instantly desired the King to grant Amalthea's desire The King Orontes who naturally was an excellent Prince and who beheld with regret this effusion of blood considering also the prayer of his Son he thereupon granted Amalthea the Eight Days Truce and having given orders to fetch off and bury the Dead and incamped his Army further off by reason of the infection of the Air he went into his Son's Chamber with a spirit full of tenderness and quite bent upon a resolution which he now discovered He found Alcamenes in the condition I represented him and though he indeavoured to recall himself in the Kings presence yet was it difficult to hinder the whole appearance of his grief from him The King having sometime entertained him with the affairs of the War and seeing he could not draw a word from him which was not diffected into sighs and sobbs he resolved to oblige him to disover his heart to advance which design he took one of his hands and pressing it between his own with much affection My Son said he I cannot taste with satisfaction the advantages your valour hath given us nor rejoyce to see in a few days my Kingdom intirely delivered from its Enemies so long as you appear in this condition wherein to my extream sorrow I behold you I alwayes hoped better things from your courage what reason soever you had to afflict your self and I must believe it exceeding great since it can conquer a heart like that of Alcamenes I thought yesterday upon the first observation of your sadnesse that it proceeded from drawing your Sword against a Woman and a fair Princesse but seeing you this day in the extremities of the most violent grief I believe it could not render it self so powerful over your spirit were it not fortified by some other passion and it is not impossible but that in the moment wherein the fair face of Menalippa appeared to you in the Combate it might produce love enough in your Soul to resent the violence of your Sword against her and for having drawn some drops of her blood Blush not Alcamenes continued the King seeing him change colour if this be the true cause of the sadnesse wherein you appear to the eyes of a Father who dearly loves you you shall receive no hindrance from him to the compleating your felicity and though the action of Menalippa hath something in it very contrary to the sweetnesse and moderation of her sex yet hath she many vertues as I have heard by the common report which makes me look-over this action And born she is of a Blood and in a Fortune which might make you hope from me an approbation of your love and indeed the Heir of Dacia is a person considerable enough to surprize the affections of the greatest Prince and the repose of Alcamenes is dear enough to me to make me overcome those resentments I might have against my Enemies If your sadnesse may be dispell'd by this proposition I will offer peace to Amalthea in a time when she can no longer make War against us and with the Peace propose to her the marriage of Alcamenes with Menalippa She will not perhaps be so obstinate in her hatred towards me as to shut her eyes against so great advantages and she will be ill advised to refuse a Peace when it lyes in our power to ruine her or reject for her Daughter the greatest and most advantagious Match she could wish Whilst Alcamenes heard the King speak thus though he received by this discourse but an imperfect joy yet could he not dissemble it and kissing the Kings hand with a profound reverence and some sighs which he could not retain My Lord said he beside the obligations which are common to me with all children I have particular ones to your bonnty which I cannot dissemble without ingratitude I will not deny to your Majesty since you have discovered it against my will that the face of Menalippa inspired me with love when my Sword was upon the point to have given her death I will say no more nor give bounds to a bounty too great for Alcamenes But if your Majesty hath any inclination to this alliance I will receive it with all the respect I ought I doubt only that all the advantages which Amalthea can find will not bow the spirit of Menalippa and I beseech your Majesty not to use the authority of the Queen to force her inclination Alcamenes said no more and the King who knew his intent and who as I told you was weary of the War though it had continued but a little while and preferring the repose of his people before a bloody Victory having commanded the Prince to comfort himself and to hope all things from his care left the Chamber and past into his own where sending for Amphimachus Prince of the Tauro-Scythes he largely instructed him with his intention and giving him a Letter to Queen Amalthea caused him to depart towards the Enemies Camp Here it was that Grief
especially in a time wherein Fortune had been adverse to her and where she was forced to acknowledge that the surety of her Troops and safety of her person depended wholly upon his bounty She received the Prince in the presence of Merodates Phrataphern Barzanes and other principal Officers of the Army Amphimacus presented her with a Letter from Orontes by which he hoped to incline her more than by the mouth of his Ambassadour Amalthea opened it in the presence of the Princes and read aloud these words ORONTES King of SCYTHIA to the Queen of DACIA IT is not in my power great Queen to blot out of your memory the losse you have received by our Armes But I can easily represent to you that the King Decebalus dyed in the Field with his Sword in his hand without trechery cruelty or any circumstance that might inspire you with a greater hatred towards me than other common Enemies You have already powred forth much blood in his revenge and you ought to be satisfied with the death of a hundred thousand men whom you have sacrificed to his Ghost Few Women have so solemnly and gloriously acquitted them of their conjugal affection But it is enough Great Queen and I demand peace in a time when you may well judge I can nothing apprehend the event of the War There is blood enough spilt and I have pity both upon your Subjects and mine own And if you refuse it not I desire your amity and Alliance the gods as I am informed have promised the Crown of SCYTHIA to the Princesse MENALIPPA your Daughter and I offer it in presenting ALCAMENES for her Husband I beleive 't is thus the gods would be understood and all other wayes to advance her upon the Throne of our Ancestors will be found lesse easie MENALIPPA hath conquered SCYTHIA in a moment since in a moment she hath conquered the heart of ALCAMENES and this Prince whose life she assaulted with so much animositie layes the same life with the Crown I shall leave him at her feet The Prince of the TAUROSCYTHES whom I have impowred will negotiate according to your Commands so soon as you let him understand them and will testifie unto you how much I desire the union of our Crowns Families and Affections Whilst Amalthea readd this Letter the divers agitations of her Soul were legible upon her face and if on one side the resentment of the King her Husbands death possessed still her spirit filling it with aversion to the King of Scythia on the other part the advantage she found in his offer and the pitiful condition she was in through the defeat of her Amry of which in all likelihood she could expect nothing but the intire ruine disarm'd by degrees that revenge which she had preserved so many years forcing her to give Reason audience though hitherto she had preferred Passion and Animosity and beside comparing the offer of Orontes with the Oracles which had promised the Crown of Scythia to the Princess her Daughter her eyes were opened to these appearances and judged that it was by this Marriage and not by Force the Gods intended she should be Queen of Scythia Whilst she rowled these thoughts in her mind without expressing them to the Company Merodates being amorous of Menalippa and impatient of a proposition which destroyed his hopes cryed with precipitation that the offer of Orontes ought not to be imbraced and that the Gods Blood and Nature would be visibly offended in case Menalippa should marry with the Son of her Father's Murtherer Phrataphern full of amorous pretences confirm'd his exclamation and added what ever he thought capable to authorize it but Barzanes more prudent than they though he exceedingly resented the death of the King his Brother found no difficulty to tell the Queen after they had conducted the Ambassadour of Scythia into another Chamber that she ought to receive with open arms the Kings proposition and that this fortune which at this time was very great for Menalippa could not with prudence be rejected at a time wherein through the defeat of their Army they lay exposed to the mercy of the Enemy where neither the valour of Merodates nor Phrataphern could hinder them from being cut in pieces if the Scythians had any such intent The reasons of Barzanes were confirmed by all the Officers of the Army and by Pharnaces who having a few moments before lost all hope of re-seeing their dear Country could not hear the proposition of so glorious a peace and so little expected by all appearances without protesting aloud to the Queen that unless she intended their intire ruine she would not reject it Amalthea hearkned to this discourse as unwilling to be accused of the destruction of those Souldiers which remained by her obstinacy nor could she think without some joy upon the fortune which presented its self to Menalippa in a conjuncture of time when she expected to be expos'd with her to a multitude of disgraces so that maugre the crye of Merodates and Phrataphernes who would never consent but in a rage departed the Chamber she sent for the Prince of the Tauro-Scythes and told him that she willingly imbraced the Peace which he offered nor had she any repugnance to the Kings Alliance but it was just that she communicated it to her Daughter who had herein the principal interest and whose consent she would demand Amphimacus reply'd to this discourse of the Queen with much civility and respect who having left him with the King of the Sarmates and the principal Officers of the Army she with Barzanes went into Menalippa's Chamber to whom she read the King of Scythia's Letter and informed her that all the Dacians setled their desires on this Peace and Alliance and her self also who had a desire to terminate this War by an honourable conclusion Amalthea hoped that notwithstanding the hatred Menalippa had exprest against Alcamenes she would yet submit her resentments to those of her Mother and open her eyes to Orontes's advantagious proposition but scarce had she discovered her thoughts when the irritated Princess casting a transported regard at the Queen How Madam said she do you designe me for the Spouse of Orontes's Son who kill'd Decebalus and who would yesterday have taken away my life in your presence with the same Sword wherewith he hath slain three Kings fighting in your Quarrel and him against whom you have inspired me with so much hatred from mine infancy Daughter replyed the Queen It is not just that enmities should be eternal and prudence commands us to persevere in or change our resolutions and inclinations according as they are either advantagious or hurtful Alcamenes is very innocent of the King your Fathers death and in the death of the Kings his Enemies he hath done but his duty if he wounded you in the Combat not knowing you he treated you with respects so soon as he knew you and yielded to you with the Victory both his heart and
and desires if it be possible with a spectacle able to cleave with pity any other heart but Menalippa's This was his last resolution nor did he weigh the design of killing himself before Menalippa's eyes and of presenting her with that odious Head which she demanded He was prepared for this funest Voyage and the day was already come when he saw an Herald arrive who having demanded of the King the accustomed Sureties defied the Prince Alcamenes in the behalf of Phrataphernes and Merodates The King was exceeding angry at this defiance and had he not been withheld by his Vertue as well as by the Law of Nations he would have exemplarily chastised this boldness he spake to the Herald in terms which made him tremble and told him he was not resolved to permit his Son to fight against those Princes whose lives he had granted a few dayes before and who possest neither life nor liberty but by his bounty alone that such Combats were not ordinary amongst persons of Alcamenes's Quality and that through his facility he would not introduce the damnable custom of defying Princes in their own Courts To this he spake many things full of Choler and his resentments were approved by the whole Court who murmured highly at the liberty of these strangers but Alcamenes appeased this Tumult by his Authority and respectfully opposing himself to the resentments of the King his Father said aloud That he knew no reason why this Combat should be dispensed with being demande by Princes of an equal Quality to his and confidently protested at last to the King that having never contradicted his will till then he would go seek them in their own Countries in case he denied them to fight in his presence Orontes opposed a long time the Princes Design with reasons which all the World approved yet were they too weak to resist Alcamenes's resolution and after a long contest this desperate Prince obtained leave on the morrow to fight them both one after the other in the greatest Plain of Serica not induring to divide that into two dayes which he thought he could finish in one nay he obtained of the King in the Heralds presence an Oath that in case he were so unhappy as to lose his life the Princes might retire without the least harm After this promise and the safe conduct signed by the Kings hand the Herald returned to his Masters who lodged not far from the City and who had the liberty to enter and provide them what they thought necessary for the Combat Alcamenes sent to visit them and constrained them to profess notwithstanding their animosity that so brave a Prince deserved rather the love than the hatred of Menalippa After Alcamenes had a good while consulted how he ought to carry himself in this Combat he thought it better to testifie his love and respect to Menalippa by presenting his naked breast to those whom she had sent to take away his life and continued sometime in the Design of rendring his Neck to the Sword of Merodates or Phrataphernes since Fortune seemed to favour his Design of giving his life to his Princess but a little after Choler against his Enemies awakening and Jealousie against his Rivals he repented his Design of giving away with his life the victory and possession of Menalippa No no said he I will not give to these Enemies whose hatred requires it neither the glory nor the reward of the victory it shall be presented more gloriously to the Princess Menalippa by the hand of Alcamenes this was his last resolution and scarce had the next Morning light appeared when he was covered with his Arms the very same he wore in the Combat against Menalippa and not amuzing himself with many formalities to render the Action more pompous he marched towards the place appointed accompanied by all the persons of Quality of the Court who would needs have the Honour to wait upon him The people of Serica had already filled the place unless that patch which was invironed by the Barriers and intended for the Combatants The Judges whereof the one was Prince of the Tauro-Scythes and the other a Prince of Phrataphernes's Kindred had already taken their places and the two stranger Princes appeared almost at the same time covered with proud Arms and advantagiously mounted they had determined by lot who should fight first and it hapned to Phratapherne which Merodates impatiently suffered though he believed there would be Valor enough to imploy his against He remained at the further end of the Barriers whilst Phratapherne advanced in the Lists with an Action which made every one behold him as a valiant man After they had devided the Sun and observed other formalities the two Warriors parted at the third Signal of the Trumpet and having traverst the space which separated them with exceeding swiftness they found themselves in the middle of the Lists with an equal force but a different fortune Alcamenes was lightly wounded in the shoulder there where the Casque joins to the extreams of the Cuirass but having directed the point of his Javelin to the Visier of Phratapherne thrust the murthering steel to the hinder part of this unfortunate Prince's Head who fell without life over the Crupper of his Horse The Scythians cast forth a cry of joy for their Prince's Victory and those of the Train of Phratapherne bewailed with a mournful murmur the Destiny of their deplorable Master they entred the Lists to take away the Body nor could Alcamenes behold their Action without testifying some marks of grief and pity But he had not time to make great Demonstrations of his resentments for scarce had he given some moments to the consideration of that misfortune which within a few dayes had made him spill so much blood when he was drawn out of it by the impatient Merodates who desiring rather to offer blood than tears to the Ghost of his Companion spurr'd into the Lists with a menacing posture but before he could put himself into a condition to fight a man passing amongst the Servants of Phratapherne accosted him presenting him with a Letter Merodates who feared no Treachery from his Enemy made no difficulty to read it Alcamenes casting his eyes upon the Messengers face observed some features which were not altogether unknown to him and a little after knew him for the same Leander who had been his Squire and whom he had left in Dacia to give his Letter to Menalippa Merodates having quickly read the Billet Alcamenes said he you may see the orders I have received for our Combat and by the conditions they impose upon me you ought well to defend your Head Alcamenes having received the Billet without Reply saw with a mighty surprize that it was Menalippa's hand but his astonishment was increased when having cast his eyes upon it with sighs he read these words MENALIPPA to MERODATES REmember Merodates that it is not your Victory but the Head of Alcamenes that I require you must
dye or kill that Barbarian there being no other way to Conquer Menalippa At the sight of this known Character and reading those cruel words the disconsolate Alcamenes had almost lost Courage and it is not without wonder that in the grief which opprest him he could be able to fight with one of the most valiant men of the World he lifted up his eyes to Heaven with an Action full of pity nor could his just resentments hinder him from bearing this Billet to his mouth reverencing that Princess whom he adored even in those marks of her inhumanity It is just Menalippa said he with a voyce defected into sighs that this odious Alcamenes should lose that life so much detested by you but it must be from Alcamenes not from Merodates that this heart-burning for you must receive its mortal wounds and you will be little obliged to me if any other hand save mine own should offer you this agreeable victim He would possibly have said more when Merodates retook his Billet Alcamenes said he you see the hard conditions of our Combat and that there is no favour to be shewn or hoped for since I must obey Menalippa Alcamenes Maugre the grief which transported him beheld Merodates with a smile full of sharpness and disdain Use thy Victory if the gods give it thee said he but I do not fear to see Alcamenes this day solliciting the Clemency of Merodates They said no more but separating towards the extremities of the Lists that they might take their Career they parted at the same time with an equal fury and joined with a success little unequal their Javelins breaking without any effect upon their Bucklers then drawing their Swords they dealt blows worthy the hands that discharged them As Merodates was valiant amongst the most valiant so this Combate became brave and long and sometime-doubtful but it will be difficult to relate all the particulars of this Combat and having already in this Story described very many Combats it will perhaps be unpleasant to you I will only say that an hour past ere Victory declared it self on either side and as Merodates to his ordinary Valor added resolution either to conquer or dye he often put the life of Alcamenes into great danger and saw not his own blood run down his Armor without making his Enemies blush with the same tincture those to whom Alcamenes's Valor was known wondred to see that of Merodates little inferior and there were some moments wherein the King Orontes trembled and waxed pale repenting that he had not utterly opposed this Combat But the Genius of Alcamenes was stronger than that of Merodates and the Victory was due to him and reserved for him Merodates perceived the diminution of his strength and it seemed to him that the force of Alcamenes received an increase nor was it a wonder that he grew so weak having lost so much blood Alcamenes desirous of the Victory gave him no respite whilst he thought him able to dispute it and dealt him at last so many wounds that having no more force to hold himself upon his Saddle he was too weak to resist the powerful Arms of his Adversary who imbracing him about the middle drew him from the Saddle and threw him upon the Earth Merodates had no power to rise and Alcamenes having alighted almost so soon as he was down the vanquisht Prince doubted not but that he was coming to execute with rigor the conditions of the Combat This thought made him lose no Courage and beholding Alcamenes with an assured eye Finish said she thy Victory and take away from me a shameful life which I neither can nor will ask of thee Thou shalt not ask it replied Alcamenes but thou shalt receive it from him in whose power it is to take it away and I will leave thee so glorious that thou shalt be able to present it to Menalippa without shame to whom I will testifie the brave thing thou hast done to obey her Merodates sighing with grief received this favour and beholding the Prince with resentments which had nothing of the Enemy in them I know not said he by what misfortune a man so vertuous could have incurred the hatred of Menalippa but the respects which I preserve for her shall never more arm me against you and if I escape these wounds you have given me I shall behold you as my Conqueror and the most generous man upon Earth He had spoken more had not the Prince who feared the loss of his blood would prove the loss of his life which he desired to preserve caused him to be taken up and carried to the Palace ordering his wounds to be drest with as much care as they would take for his own But scarce had he performed this generous part and not yet remounted when from amongst the Throng a Cavalier rushed in with impetuosity who passing through a place in the Barriers which was open and spurring his Horse towards the Prince accosted him with his Sword in his hand before he could prepare to receive him and aiming his Sword at the default of his Cuirass pierced it through his body up to the Gardes Thus this great Prince vanquisher of so many Princes fell upon the Field where he had obtained two so gallant Victories and scarce could his Soul contain it self from following a River of blood which covered the ground round about him A thousand cryes were raised in an instant at an Accident so strange and unlooked for Thousands ran to the fallen Prince and his Assasine who by a Thousand Swords had lost his life if some prudent persons who knew of how great consequence it was to arrest criminals of this Nature living had not opposed the first fury of the Tumult telling them that it was by punishments proportionable to the Crime that such Monsters ought to perish and that by Torments those things were to be drawn from them which a sudden death would prevent Thus hindred they the destruction of Alcamenes Murtherer yet they loaded him with Chains and carried him to Prison whence he was not likely to return save to those tortures which the grandure of his wicked Action deserved The King overwhelmed by this Accident had almost lost a Courage which never yet forsook him it so pierced his heart that it was difficult to know whether of the two was the more dangerously wounded All the City which Alcamenes's vertues had filled with as much love as veneration with tears lamented his misfortune and it seemed as if this one blow had laid all the hopes of Scythia in its Tomb. Those esteemed themselves happy who could lend their arms and care to carry their Prince to the Palace and the great multitudes of people who prest to succour him had almost deprived him of all succour the cruel Sword stuck in his body and scarce in drawing it out could they hinder the Life from following the Chirurgions who visited this large wound by two Orifices could give the
and hatred you see me alwayes ardent alwayes faithful bend your spirit to the pity you owe me and the love you owe your self Thus spake the beloved Phantasm to the sleeping Princess who was so touched with the Vision and the passionate Discourse that her sleep departed leaving such as impression upon her that in opening her eyes she fancied that the dear Image appeared She found her self washt with tears and although after some moments she was able to distinguish a Dream from a real Apparition yet could she not but stretch her Arms on that side whither she thought the spirit of Alcimedon retired and calling him back with a voyce interrupted by sighs Return my dear Alcimedon said she and see that 't is into the bosom of Alcamenes that I have thrust my revenging steel and not into thine Tears were too feeble to satisfie what I owe thee and since it must be blood who 's more fit than thy Murtherer's Already he draws towards his end and instead of solliciting me to hasten the hour thou indeavourest to touch me with pity for that inhumane Act but think not that I can be sorry for your Assasine and consider that whether in abandoning a dear Mother a flourishing Kingdom and leading a life exposed to many dangers a reputation committed to the opinions of men and all to revenge you I have not given sufficient Testimonies that I dearly love you She made many more Discourses of this Nature and at last changing the Subject for Alcamenes Wherefore deluding Alcamenes said she dost thou rob me of Alcimedon 's face it is to disarm me of my just anger whose last effects thou mayest well fear Ah! rather take the odious shape of mine Enemy and if thou escapest this wound live if thou canst in safety from Menalippa 's fury which thy submissions had almost disarmed She talked long after this rate tormenting her self all the Night and in the Morning she rose early but so troubled at her Dream and the Ideas which it had left in her spirit that she was scarce capable of any Discourse So soon as she was drest the Prince of the Massagetes entred her Chamber and told her from the King that she might depart so soon as she pleased and that if she thought sit an honourable Train should attend her from Serica to the Metropolis of her Kingdom Menalippa was confounded at Orontes's bounty and was even upon the point of repenting the evil she had done him but whilst she prepared her Answer and was thinking in what manner she should receive her Enemies offer she saw Sosthenes enter her Chamber with the Letter which Alcamenes had dictated Menalippa received opened and read it not knowing what to do in the trouble that possest her and had she considered she would not possibly have received a Letter from Alcimedons Murtherer but full of pre-occupation she read these words The Dying Alcamenes to the pitiless Menalippa WEre not death more dear and glorious to me from your hand than mine own I had prosecuted your Design but if it be possible I will dye by you as I dye for you and if by the anger of Heaven this glory is refused me I will seek my consolation in the felicity of pleasing you and render you in Dacia this Head which you have devoted to your resentments it is not just that you should come to seek with so much pain and peril here that which is your own and which I would have offered to you had you not prevented me The gods know it was alwayes my Design to obey you and I desire them to abandoned me to disgraces yet more great if it be possible than those I have already resented if the Crimes you reproach me of are known to me or if I think my self culpable of any offence towards you save when I lifted my sacrilegious hand against you I have given the better part of my blood towards its reparation and if there remains one sigh to compleat your satisfaction I will chase O Menalippa the unfortunate Soul out of my dying body leaving it not so much as a receptacle upon my lips unless to express the last accents of the dying Alcamenes 's love Go then fair Princess into what place soever you will either dead or alive I will send the spirit of Alcimedon to you he will shew you the wound which you have made and a heart where instead of Alcamenes whom you seek to destroy you can only harm Menalippa pardon me the injuries which you have received in this barbarous Land whose Crown Alcimedon promised to and Alcamenes destined for you and do me the favour to believe that you might without danger trouble or displeasure have seen the last moments of ALCAMENES Though Menalippa read the beginning of that Letter without any particular emotion yet those parts of it wherein he mentioned Alcimedon where he threatned to send the spirit of Alcimedon to shew her the wound she had made so troubled her partly to comprehend the sense of those strange words and the conformity they had with her Dream the Idea of which was still fresh in her memory and wherein the spirit of Alcimedon which Alcamenes threatned to send had already made its first appearance that there scarce remained either Reason or Discourse in her she was exceedingly astonisht how Alcamenes should know that Alcimedon had promised her the Crown of Scythia and in this mixture of different thoughts she fell into the extremities of confusion What Fortune is mine said she within her self and with what manner of man have I to deal who could not only kill Alcimedon but also dispose of his spirit after death and know the most secret of his thoughts whilst living Her spirit being imbroyled on this manner she knew not what presented it self to her eyes or thoughts at last lifting up her eyes which had been fixt on the ground and fastning them on the face of Sosthenes whom she had seen a thousand times in Dacia with Alcimedon she presently knew him this sight and knowledg plunged her into a great perplexity and being forced to take her Bed through weakness which but a little before she had left and casting most passionate regards upon the face of Sosthenes Are you not call'd Sosthenes said she and did you not serve Alcimedon whilst he was in Dacia I have served him many years said Sosthenes and to him have I dedicated all the dayes of my life How couldst thou then replied Menalippa without horror come near his Assasine I have not done it reply'd Sosthenes but in obedience to his Command and the person of his Assasine is so dear to him that I cannot render him a more agreeable Service than in promoting that passion which he will preserve for her even to his Tomb. How replied Menalippa Doth the spirit of Alcimedon still love the person of his Murtherer She stayed a while at these words and not giving Sosthenes time to speak 'T is no marvel
I perceive there is between her sentiments and thine that it is upon thy account and to enjoy thee that she slights me as conceiving her fortune will be much better with Caesars Nephew a person destined for the Empire of the Universe then with a beggarly dispossessed Prince whom Fortune hath not left any thing but his sword And yet as contemptible and as wretched as I am I would not resign the interest I have in her to Tiberius while I had one drop of bloud left in my veines and I would wander all over the World but I would find him and take away his life did I but once imagine that Clcopatra were designed for him But for thee who didst sometimes quit the pretentions thou hadst to her to me I find in my self a complyance for thee suitable to so great an obligation and if I cannot look on thy fortune without dying I will be so far from being any way thy hindrance that I shall haply by my death remove out of thy way the greatest obstacle which any other but thy self could have met with in such a business This was the discourse of Coriolanus and notwithstanding the cruel prejudice whereby some that were concerned in it were possessed yet had it that influence upon their spirits that it was impossible for them to conceal the discoveries of their sympathy Marcellus who was a person of an excellent good nature could not dissemble it and doing himself a certain violence to expresse what he felt within him Coriolanus said he to the Prince how far soever I ought to be perswaded of thy infidelity yet have I not so great an a version for thee but that I would spend the best part of my blood might it contribute any thing to thy justification and if thy proceeding had been such as to leave us any thing to doubt of thou hadst found an advocate in my heart that would have maintained thy innocence against all the World to the last minute of my life But Coriolanus thou wert not pleased to afford us that comfort and hast taken such a course to have thy crime noised through the whole Roman Empire that unlesse we had been without the limits of it banished into the most remote parts of the earth it was impossible we should be ignorant thereof Ask the most inconsiderable person among the Romans what the infidelity of Coriolanus was and by what means it broke forth and then ask Caesar ask all the Romans nay Cleopatra her self whether I have betrayed thee or whether from the day that for thy sake I have disengaged my self from the affection I had for her I ever looked on her otherwise then as a Sister or minded any mans interests as to her but thine Do not therefore charge either her or me with any basen ess since there hath happened no change in our sentiments and that when we both accuse thee with a departure from thy former thoughts and the infidelity thou hast committed against us infer not that I have quitted Julia for Cleopatra or that Cleopatra shunning Coriolanus as a monster of ingratitude hath looked on the Empire or Marcellus or indeed any other person that thou canst any way reproach her with Coriolanus being out of all patience at this discourse rises up of a sudden and coming to Marcellus in an excess of passion I am satisfied said he to him that what thou saist is true but thou must either run me through this heart with thy sword or expect to see me fall upon the point of my own after the example of the King of Armenia or let me understand at last what this infidelity is which is so well known to all the World and unknown onely to the person that hath committed it I have nothing in particular to acquaint thee withal replies Marcellus but it was ever my opinion that was apparant to the eyes of all the World carryed crime enough in it to deny thee the thought of innocence and that thou needest not expresse thy self more plainly both to Cleopatra and Marcellus then by sending plenipotentiary Ambassadours to Caesar with credentialls under the great Seal of Mauritania to demand of him the Princesse Julia in marriage and thereupon to do him homage for thy Kingdom Who I cries out the Prince at this discourse of Marcellus have I sent Ambassadours to Caesar to demand Julia of him and to do him homage for my Dominions T is true Coriolanus saies the Princesse Cleopatra who had been silent all the time t is true Coriolanus you did send them and if we had not seen them our selves with their credential letters in form and with full power we should hardly have been perswaded to a thing so improbable Theocles one of the most eminent of your Subjects was the chief person of that Embassy and he came along with Volusius to Rome at his return out of Mauritania There was nothing omitted in that affair either as to solemnity or form and if it wrought not the effect you expected it should it hath raised in the heart of your friend and that very justly the resentment he hath discovered to you and in that of the unfortunate Cleopatra a grief which will bring her to the grave Cleopatra having thus disburtnened her thoughts by this discourse Camilla whom the vertue of that Prince had ever obliged to side with him perceiving he was mute and immoveable at these reproaches comes to him and in few words acquainted him more at large with the cause of his misfortune and the truth how all things were managed between Volusius and his Ambassadours The son of Juba no lesse cast down at this discourse then if he had been struck with a thunder-bolt stood still for a good space of time looking still about him as if it had been to seek for some either to witness his innocence or make good the charge put in against him At last dispelling his astonishment and feâ—ring his sâ—lence might be thought an argument of his guilt he comes nearer to Cleopatra and setting one knâ—e to the ground Madam said he to her I humbly crave your pardon for my having charged you with any thing unjustly I should have known that you are just in all things and thence have inferred that your change could not proceed but from a cause suitable thereto I might haply not without reason hope it from your goodness and the friendship of Marcellus that you would have proved my advocate to your self and plead my cause against the artifices and designes of my enemies And this it was not hard for you to take notice of since there was little likelihood I should so much court the allyance and friendship of Caesar when I was possessed of the throne of my Ancestors having slighted it in a time when I had no favour or fortune to hope for but from him alone or that I should voluntarily offer him the homage of my kingdomes after I had conquered them by open war and
manner you got off from that bloudy battle which with a handful of men you gave the great and numerous army of Tirabasus and where you were left for dead and passed for such in my apprehension as you did in the general opinion of all the World till the day that I saw you again in the garden at Meroe And though you since told me something of it yet was it so confusedly that as well for that reason as that I thought not fit to confound that discourse with the perfect relation I had to entertain the Princesse with of other things I made not the least mention thereof So that it shall be your businesse to acquaint her with that particularity which is all she wants of your adventures to your return to Meroe and then we shall be glad to know what hath happened to you since my departure thence The discourse you have to make you will I know contract what you can by reason of the disturbance I shall be in if you make any long abode in this place where I cannot look on you without fear as knowing what danger you expose your self to With these words the Princesses having called Urinoe who onely remained in the Chamber entreated her to take such order as that there should not come neer them any of the slaves that had been appointed to wait on them and to have a care with Clitia that they might not be surprised After this precaution given the Prince having seated himself between them as the Queen had commanded him after a recollection of some few minutes to recal into his mind the things whereof his discourse was to consist began it at length in these terms The continuation of the HISTORY Of CAESARIO I Must needs confesse that in the battle wherein with 16000 men the greatest part wounded and unfit for service I engaged with an Army of 100000. I did not do like an experienced General or a man that had before commanded Armies and gained Victories But it is also to be acknowledged that it was not out of any hope of victory that I came into the field but meerly out of a desire to dye proceeding from the despair whereto the misfortunes of my great Queen had reduced me and to endeavour even at my death to shake if not overthrow the perfidious usurper of her Crown and Liberty Besides having considered all things I found my self not in a condition to make my party good by retreating before the army of Tiribasus which was come of a sudden upon us into that very field where not many dayes before I had defeated 35000 men and killed Antenor the Brother of Tiribasus by whom they were commanded I shall not therefore spend any further time to justifie that action which will be thought more pardonable among persons prepossessed by a violent passion such as was that of mine then among persons experienced in the business of war and consequently shall onely tell you that I was not fortunate enough to effect what I had undertaken though I had the happiness to see Tiribasus fall in the midst of his men with two or three wounds about him had this comfort in my misfortune that with the losse of my own I saw the field covered with a number of carkases three times greater then that which I could make when I first came into it At last it was my lot to fall loden with wounds amongst those that covered the ground with their carkases and as my good fortune would have it my faithful Governor Eteocles who still kept as near me as he could having fought it out a little longer fell also not far from me with such wounds about him as had deprived him of all sence and apprehension The enemy spent the remainder of the day in shipping the dead and in burying or burning their friends but in regard that about that place where we were the air was grown a little infectious by reason of the precedent battle the Generalls thought not fit to make any longer stay there and thereupon marching all away in the night they encamped at a good distance thence upon the way to Meroe insomuch that there were none left in the Fields but the dead or at least what were thought such by those that left them Now the wounds of Eteocles proving not very great and that his weaknesse proceeded not so much from their danger as the great losse of blood he had undergone he made a shift to to recover himself assoon as it was night and I am in this extreamly obliged to him that e're he had bestowed many minutes to reflect on the condition he was in himself he came to see what was become of me He sought me out and with much ado found me notwithstanding the darkenesse because I was not far from him and crawling along as he could to get a little nearer me he came and felt me all over trying by all the waies he could whether there were any life in me The cold air of the night stayed the bleeding of my wounds insomuch that Eteocles finding me cold as ice all over his first apprehensions concluded me absolutely departed this world but at last laying his hand on my breast he found by the palpitation of my heart that there were some small remainders of life in me The weak hope which this unexpected discovery raised in him filled him with all the joy he could in that condition be capable of and though he took abundance of paines about me to recover me to some degree of sensibility yet all his endeavours proved ineffectuall insomuch that the whole night which at that time of the year was of the shortest was over e're he could do any good with me He many times endeavoured to get upon his feet and to go seek out some help but his weakness was such that he was not able and e're he could half get up he fell down again by me I shall not trouble you either with the complaints that fell from him or the grief it was to him that he could not effect what he desired and it were but to make my relation the more tedious to insist upon such frivolous particulars The Sun was gotten into his Chariot when I first began to open my eies and to breath in such manner that Eteocles perceived it He immediately creeps neerer my face almost out of himself for joy gave me so many kisses and spoke to me with so much earnestness that at last he absolutely recovered me to life again I began to feel and to see but had not the power to stir and though I saw Eteocles yet did I not perfectly know him but as it were by some broken remainders of an Idaea half forced out of my memory In the mean time he perceived it was impossible for him any way to relieve me and though he saw I was come to my self yet did he in a manner put it out of all question that I would die for want
be discovered and known by those exasperated persons if they saw me and that in the rage which then possessed them they would take away those small remainders of life there were in me rather then any way relieve me On the other side he saw me drawing towards my end was sensible he should dye himself if he were not assisted and in that perplexity nor knowing what resolution to vain to take he lifted up his eyes to Heaven and desired that of the gods which he thought it expect from men In this interim the woman comes to her self again and immediately discovered it by her mournful groans and lamentations she embraced the frozen carkase and bestowed thousands of kisses on a face all covered with bloud and that with such transportation as from whose violence Eteoclss could infer no lesse then that that of her love had been extraordinanary Dearest Teremanes said she sometime the enlivening light of my dayes but now a Luminary eclipsed by the interposition of eternal darknesse Are these the happy Nuptialls that were prepared for our loves and after the faithful test of so many traverses misfortunes is it in this fatal field that I was to enjoy thee Dear shade which by an unhuman thrust hast quited this body the object of my truest affections and wandrest yet about these shores in expectation of sepulture Infinitely beloved shade dost thou forsake me for ever And is it possible thou shouldst seek rest while thou leavest me in disturbances a thousand times more insupportable then that death which snatches thee from the embraces of thy faithful Eurinoe Many other exclamations to the same effect fell from her such as were the sad effects of her despair and which Eteocles would have hearkned to with more patience but the danger wherein we were or rather the desperate condition of our lives took up his thoughts so much that he could not afford her any longer attention But indeed it was not long e're he had another motive to discover us when the man that waited on that affiicted Lady being come neerer me and having presently known me out of a confidence he was of that I had fallen in that place and knew me very well by sight perceived withal that my eyes were open and that I was not quite dead They had not stripped me naked because of the abundance of bloud that was about my cloaths but they had taken away the excellent armour wherein I had fought and whereby I was so remarkable in the battel Eteocles had wiped the bloud off my face so that the man could with lesse difficulty know me again and thereupon returning immediately to his Lady Madam said he to her if revenge may abate any thing of your greif lay hold on the opportunity which the gods favour you with to offer a noble sacrifice to the Manes of Teramenes Here behold not onely his murderer but the murderer also of your Brother is yet alive and the just gods seem to have reserved those little remainders of life which he hath yet left purposely that they might in some measure satisfie your revenge Never did any Tigress fly out with so much fury at those that had carried away her young ones as that exasperated and desperate Woman did upon those cruel words She laies hands on a dagger which she spyed lying on the ground among other armes and running to the place where the man pointed she was immediately with me looking on me with eyes sparkling with indignation yet so as through which satisfaction she conceived at her intended revenge did in certain intervals shew it self Teramenes cryed she I am now going to sacrifice to thee all that is remaining of thy Executioner and shall meet with thee again with greater joy when I shall have appeased thy Manes with this victime With these words she comes up close to me who was lying on my back with my face directed to Heaven and my eyes open which I weakly fastened on the objects yet so as that I was not able to discern what past and lifting up her arm to thrust the weapon into my breast it was coming downwards upon me when Eteocles lifting himself half up put forth his hand and laying hold of hers with greater force then in all probability he seemed to have had in him Hold thy hands cruel Woman said he to her spare the blood of the gods and do not by thy cruelty shorten for some few minutes the noblest life in the World Eurinoe was so surprised both at the action and the words of Eteocles that the dagger fell out of her hands and she was at such a loss as to all resolution that she could only look on the man whom the gods seemed to have purposely raised up to prevent the effect of her resolution But at last her passion being still the most predominant in her mind her rage grew more violent then it had been before and running to another weapon which she saw not far from her Do not hope said she to Eteocles thou shalt divert me from the sacrifice which I owe my Teramenes and be content with this comfort that his Executioner hath but those weak remnants of life where as I should wish him a hundred lives that I might take a nobler revenge of them altogether With these words she comes to me on the other side and at a place where the assistance of Eteocles would have stood me in no stead desirous to execute her revenge with a greater satisfaction she would needs look upon me and so as she lifted up her arm fixed her eyes on my countenance Eteocles hath told me since that even in that languishing posture wherein I then appeared to the sight of Eurione there was something in me more beautiful then ordinary my eyes looked more gently because I looked more dejectedly then I should have done otherwise and my hair stained with blood in some places playing with my cheeks by reason of a little wind that then blew heightned the little beauty which still remained in my face whereof the paleness must needs be thought an extraordinary whiteness in a Country where ordinary degrees of whiteness are thought rare and admired I fine for my part I know not with what advantage I appeared in the sight of that incensed Woman but the arm she had lifted up remained in that posture and at the same time having gently turned my eies upon her with a feeble groane her indignation was disarmed at that object and the weapon fell out of her hand the second time The man that waited upon her thinking he did her a very acceptable service in egging her on to take the intended revenge put the weapon into her hand the third time and encouraging her to the action she would have done was ready to help her to put it in execution when the woman looking very passionately upon him Hold thy hands said she to him it is not the pleasure of the gods that I should put
Cleomedon to death The man who was on the other side as ready to obey her was quiet and Eurinoe having sate her down some few paces from me began to look very earnestly upon me and ever and anon disburthened her self of certain sighs which her breast was not strong enough to keep in She looked still more and more earnestly and the more she looked on me the more she seemed to struggle with her passion and by all her deportment it was easily visible to those that took notice of it that there passed strange things in her soul and that there was an engagement of passion there whereof she was not over-confident which should have the Victory Sometimes she would take her sight off my countenance with some signes of reassuming her resolution but presently after she would fasten her eies on me again with greater earnestness then before and during those uncertain and impetuous motions which raised such a tempest in her soul she with much ado made a passage for certain sighs Which when she had disburthened her self of Cruel man said she loud enough to be heard by Eteocles who was the next man to her fatal Enemy of our house must thou needs after thou hast triumphed over the life of my Brother and my Lover prosecute thy Victorious arms even into my heart With these words she held her peace and observed not without confusion that Eteocles might have over-heard them I here entertain you with a discourse not much consiâ—tent with the modeâ—ty which is natural to me and which Eteocles might better have undertaken than my self but it was your pleasure to command it and I know not any reason whereby I may be dispensed from the obedience I owe you While the Woman was still struggling with the incertainties she was in and that by several discoveries it was visible that she was guided by a passion contrary to that which a little before had put the weapons into her hand to dispatch me Eteocles who notwithstanding the extremity whereto he was reduced himself by reason of his wounds was satisfied of the truth of his observation Being accordingly desirous to make what advantage he could of the adventure wherein he could not but imagine something miraculous and extraordinary and looking on Eurinoe in a very submissive manner Fair Lady said he to her since your indignation hath submitted to your pitty be not generous by halves and consider with your self that to thrust a dagger into the â—reast of Cleomedon and to leave him without relief in the condition whereto you now see him reduced is no question one and the same thing Let your vertue have an absolute conquest in favour of a Prince who hath offended you only through his misfortune and will serve you by his acknowledgments if the gods shall through your assistance prolong your life Eurinoe needed no more prevalent sollicitation to oblige her to do a thing which she was earnestly bent to do and thereupon giving Eteocles an immediate answer I shall satisfie your desires said she to him I shall relieve Cleomedon though he be the murderer of both my Brother and my Love and the gods who were not pleased he should receive his death at my hands command me to preserve his life if it be possible With these words turning to the man that accompanyed her Pelorus said she to him the hazard I run in this action is very great and besides the report I am to fear by doing this good office to him that hath shed the blood that was so dear to me you know I have yet one Brother left about Tiribasus exasperated to the revenge of his own relations and without doubt an irreconcileable enemy of Cieomedons But I have so great a confidence of your fidelity that all my hope is in it and I am accordingly inclined to believe that you will not betray this secret and will afford me your assistance upon an occasion of so great consequence The man who was become absolutely her Creature by the death of his Master complyed with her in all things and promised her to be as secret as she expected But why should I importune you any longer with the relation of particulars of little consequence By the command of Eurinoe the care of those that were about her a horse-litter was prepared brought to the place were we were into which I was put Eteocles by me and we were conveyed as gently as could be possible to a Castle which was but one houres riding from that place where we were at first disposed into several beds but in the same chamber Eteocâ—es it seems being very unwilling to be in any other place then where I was But now give me leave to beg your attention O ye great Princesses and withal your astonishment as what I have to tell you or at least be pleased to infer thence the constancy of those affections which seem to be the most violent You have heard the account I have given you of the affliction Eurinoe was in for the loss of her Teramenes as also of her lamentations and her deportment full of despair and extravagance which in all probability were the expressions of the most violent love that a soul could be capable of and now you are to know that when she left the place whence she caused us to be conveyed away she hardly so much as thought on him or at least bestowing all her pains on the living who might stand in need of her assistance she thought it enough to give Pelorus order to cause the body of Teramenes to be carryed away and to see it buried They presently sent into the next Town for Surgeons by whom we were dressed with much secrecy taking great care they should not come to the knowledg of my name who knew me not by sight And these being excellent men in their profession their endeavors proved so successeful on me that ere that day was passed they brought me absolutely to my self again and within a few days after undertook to Eurinoe and Eteocles that I should not dye of my wounds I have understood since that Eurinoe entertained that assurance with as much joy as if her life were concerned in the preservation of mine but for my own part I can truly affirm that I received it without any and that after I had recovered my memory and began to make my first reflections on the wretched condition I was in I had almost cast my self through my own despair into that danger out of which they took so much pains to deliver me Whereof this certainly must be the reason that the violent desire of death which forced me to engage in the fight being not yet gotten out of my mind I should in all likelihood have followed what that inspired me with and had tendred the endeavors of those that took so much trouble upon them about my recovery absolutely ineffectual had it not been for the continual sollicitations and importunity of
his forces to do it in such manner that he made not any provision for the security of the City Upon this account was it that he spent the whole day in assaults against us but to no purpose and having hardly taken one hours rest in the night he was at us again before day much more furiously than before In the mean time Oristhenes having landed in the Island without any difficulty was with the advantage of the night gotten to the very gates of Meroe and at the break of day having given the signall which we were agreed upon with Clinias he was presently at the gate whither all his men coming to him from severall quarters came about him and before that those who were then upon the guard could perceive whether they were Friends or Enemies they fell upon them cut off those that made any resistance and having forced the rest to fly set open the gate for Oristhenes Yet could not this be done with so little noise but that those who were upon the walls though but few and those not much minding what was done did assoon as it was light discover the forces of Oristhenes and accordingly give the alarme but before it could come to the place where Tiribasus was Oristhenes was gotten into the City his troops coming in still like waves and meeting with nothing that any way opposed them He brought in along with him three thousand horse and about seven or eight thousand foot all choice men and such as were ready to sacrifice their lives for the just cause wherein they were engaged Oristhenes used all the expedition he could to get in his forces which he disposed into the more spacious streets and other large places that lie neer that gate and when he saw that the greatest part were come in and that the rest would follow without any hindrance he advanced towards the palace putting all to the sword that he met with in arms He caused it to be cried wherever he came that the Citizens should lay down their arms and that no violence should be done to those that would not fight for Tiribasus It were impossible for me to represent to you what a distraction Tiribasus was in when word was brought of that misfortune and what imprecations he made against heaven when he perceived himself surprized by those very enemies whom not long before he had slighted for their weakness and yet he withall saw that he had but little time to loose in consultation and that in tead of carrying on the assault against the Palace he must make head against Crisâ—henes and fight him He accordingly resolved to do it and thereupon rallying all the forces he had about him and giving order that his horse should mount he mounted also himself and leaving a small number before the Pallace to keep us in play he took all the rest along with him to engage with Oristhenes I had understood by a signall from Clinias that the supplies were come and easily imagined what might have followed insomuch that finding that I might either freely sally out or at the worst meet with such opposition as I might well overcome I thought it not fit to fight any longer behind dead walls and so leaving twelve hundred men to make good the Palace though a lesse number might have served to do it I commanded out all the rest and getting up of a good horse whereof I â—ound no small number about the Palace and which I disposed among the most considerable of those that were about me I caused the great gate of the Palace to be opened and drew out into a spacious place not far from it Those that endeavoured to oppose our passage were â—nmediately cut in pieces and the rest running away made all the haste they could to Tiribasus I was no sooner got into the City but I caused it to be proclaimed every where as Oristhenes had done before that the Queen pardoned the Citizens provided they layd down their armes and this running from one to another proved so effectual that the greatest part of the inhabitants took occasion to go home to their own houses by which means Tiribasus's party became much weaker then it had been However the number he had about him was far greater then that of our forces but he could not make any advantage of their number in the streets where the engagement was not the same as it would have been in an open field Tiribasus was already engaged with Oristhenes and upon the first encounter there was abundance of bloud spilt on both sides As I was marching towards the place where I thought to have found them I met with Asanor in my way in the head of a party which he was carrying to the relief of Tiribasus I immediately charged him and it happening that we met in a spacious place the engagement proved accordingly very hot and bloudy The success also for some time was very doubtful but at last victory declared her self for the juster cause and Asanor being killed with the most considerable of those that were about him the rest ran away in disorder towards the place where Tiribasus was fighting against Oristhenes and certainly there it was that bloud and blows were not spared and that we had by much the worst end of the staff Tiribasus sighting with his men like one that had all at the stake had charged Oristhenes with such fury that the bravest of his men lay upon the ground and he himself being unhorsed disputed the business on foot with little hope of victory nay it would have been long ere he had lost his life had not some of the best affected and stoutest of his men set themselves before him and relieved him with much eagernesse Tiribasus making all the advantage he could of that overture of victory forced his enemies to retreat fighting them still even into the spacious place of Mâ—roe There it was that he thought to give them an absolute defeat by reason of the advantage of the place and the distraction they were already in when I coming to their relief another way which I found free got up to that place with my Troop and immediately crying out Candace Candace and those that followed me Cleemedon we revived those that were ready to quit the field and abated their confidence who expected nothing lesse then victory The presence of the two chiefs added very much to the bloodiness of the engagement which was upon my coming reassumed and having sent some of my men to relieve Oristhenes whose danger I had understood I endeavoured to meet with Tiribasus as knowing that in his person consisted all the war I took notice of the place where he was and be immediately knew me I am easily perswaded that it was not his desire to avoid fighting being by the acknowledgment of all a man valiant enough and no lesse concerned in my death then I could be in his but the most devoted to his interests that were about
troubled at this adventure as such as obliged me to a fruitless engagement in a time which I was to employ in finding out other enemies but there being no grief so great as to smother the Love of glory I thought that the discourse which Britomarus hadmade well considered I could not with honour avoid fighting though he had left it to my choice Upon this reflection looking on him with an eie which easily discovered how much I was moved at what he had said Artaban said I to him I am very ready to believe of you all that you say of your self as also all that Fame hath spread abroad concerning you and am withall satisfied that the cause of your resentments hath been taken away by change of your affections but it seems though there be no quarrel between us out of any consideration of jealousie I am yet to be accountable for your aversion and though there want not haply other occasions of far greater consequence than the motives of our differences that call me elsewhere yet will I be obliged for my liberty to prosecute them to my self and not to your civility Let us not remit to another time and other opportunities what we may determine in this It is possible we may not meet with another so favourable and we were both equally blameable if we should now part and avoid and engagement that is now become necessary and for which it seems you come so well prepared With these words I rose up from the place where I lay and after I had put on and fastned my head-piece and taken my buckler from my Esquire I got up on horseback and rid forth into the most delightful part of the plain Artaban was not a person to be expected he had his foot in the stirrup assoon as my self and being immediately come up to me he easily discovered by all his deportment that he was the person Fame published him to be The first onset proved very furious and the indignation I was in to think that he should continue an unjust aversion during so many years for a displeasure I had innocentdone him and for which I had made such satisfaction caused me to fight with no lesse animosity against him then I had done some few daies before against Tiribasus The first blows that were dealt on both sides were hearty and heavy enough but being both very well skilled in the use of the Buckler there were a many exchanged ere there was any wound received on either side At last being more and more exasperated by this trial of our strength we engaged one another with lesse circumspection insomuch that both his armour and mine began to be dy'd with the blood which our swords drew out of our bodies That spectacle heightning our courage added also to our animosity and no doubt but that the end of the combat would have proved fatal to one of us nay it may be to both by reason of the great equality of our force when a certain man on horseback riding at a small distance from us and making a sudden halt staied for some little time to look on us For my part I could see nothing in the man that might divert me from minding what I was then about but Artaban had no sooner cast his eie on him but he gives a great shout and at the same time gave me such a blow over the head that I was for some minutes stunn'd with it However I made a shift to recover and that immediately and was thinking to drive towards him when looking about I perceived him at a great distance from me riding with all the speed his horse could make after the man we had seen and pursuing him so closely that it was not long ere a turning that was in the plain deprived me of the sight of him This accident put me very much to a losse as being too well acquainted with the valour of my Adversary to imagine that it was out of any motive of fear that he avoided fighting No I was far from conceiving any such thing of him as knowing him to be as gallant and as stout a man as ever drew sword but being already exasperated by the sight of my blood sliding down along my Armour I would needs run after him either to decide our quarrell or know of him the reason why he had left me in the midst of it Whereupon observing the way he had taken I followed the track of his horse with all the speed I could make and with a small time came into a place where I found him engaged in a combate with another man that seemed to be no lesse valiant then himself But my greatest Queen I shall say no more as to what past then because you were your self present and saw all having Eteocles with you and another valiant person who made it his business to part us There it was that I had the happinesse to see you like a flash of lightning and just at the minute that I began to feel the first motions of joy for that adventure I saw you carried away once more by the man whom Artaban had pursued who was returned thither with his companions and was the Pirate Zenodorus as I have understood since by Eteocles The fair Queen who had been present at that action and had observed all till she was carried away was so well acquainted with all passages that he might well forbear all further account thereof Whereupon the Prince related to her how that he had followed her so long till at last through the great losse of blood and the weakness he was reduced to by reason of his wounds he fell of his horse how he had been relieved by Eteocles and not long after by his own Brother Prince Alexander and the Princess Artemisa He afterwards entertained her with an account how they had brought him to the house where they had taken sanctuary themselves how that some few daies after when he had in some measure recovered his health he had been acquainted with the History of their loves and yet though he had not the least mistrust of their vertue and friendship that he thought it not fit at that time to discover himself to them as not knowing whether she might take it well at his hands He afterwards acquainted her with the arrival of the Princesse Cleopatra and her being in that house to whom also he had not discovered himself and how that the next day she had been carried away again with Artemisa Caesario aggravated to the Queen the affliction he conceived at that misfortune as being not in a capacity to afford his Sister the assistances he ought and to go along with Alexander after those that had carried her away yet told her withal that it was his resolution to have done it and that he would have put on his armour if Alexander himself had not prevented him and if Eteocles had not taken such order that he could get neither arms nor
Alexander to see whether he was of the same opinion I must needs acknowledge said she to the Prince that I find abundance of resemblance between your countenance and that of a Prince with whom my Brother and my self were brought up and one that might have been much about your age if the gods had thought fit to have continued him in life and health and to preserve him against those powers by which he received an untimely death I am also very much satisfied added Prince Alexander that if our Brother Caesario were living he might be very like the brave Cleomedon And though that from the age of fourteen years which was that of Caesario when he dyed to that of Cleomedon which seems to be greater by nine or ten years there happens more alteration both in the bulk and countenances of men then in all mans life besides and that it might be withal granted that time may in some measure have worn away out of our memories those Idaeas which cannot be expected otherwise then imperfect in the minds of children such as we were then yet can I not call them to my remembrance without a certain conceit that I find them again in Cleomedon and imagining to my â—elf that if Caesario were now alive there would be a very great resemblance between them Nay I am much inclined to believe from the great hopes that were conceived of him and the glorious bloud that ran in his veins derived from illustrious ancestors that this resemblance might have reached to the greatnesse of courage and that he would have thought it a dishonour to come too far short of that stupendious man whom it was his glory to imitate in all things The modesty of the son of Caesar made him blush at these obliging expressions of the son of Anthony whereupon looking on him with a smiling countenance It is but just indeed I should suffer any thing said he to him from a Prince to whom I am obliged for an assistance that preserved my life But since you and the Princesse Cleopatra are pleased to flatter me so pleasantly with so advantageous a resemblance I must in requital assure you that it is yet greater in all things then you imagine it and that I am not onely as to my inclinations comparable to Prince Caesario but also that my fortunes have been absolutely suitable to his I should put you to some astonishment should I tell you that as he so I was dearly loved by Alexander and Cleopatra in their younger years That I was loved as tenderly as he was by the Queen your mother and that her indulgence towards me was as great as what she expressed towards him that as he so I also left you to seek out my safety in Ethiopia after the downfall of your house That I was born as well as he of an unfortunate Queen and am son to the greatest that ever was of mankind and in a word I am so extreamly like him that I might even in Alexandria presume to own the name of Caesario if by such an acknowledgment I should not put you to the hazard of loosing him once again These words of Caesario raised such a distraction in the souls of Cleopatra and Alexander that neither of them being able to comprehend any thing of it could do no more then look on him that had spoke them with a silence which argued their astonishment much more then any verbal expressions could have done The son of Caesar had suffered them to continue a while in that posture when he sees Eteocles coming in whom he had caused Clitia to call from the Terrace where he had left him Whereupon reassuming the discourse with an action which held the Brother and the Sister equally in suspence That you may be absolutely satisfied said he to them that my fortunes have been in all things conformable to those of Caesario behold the man that brought me up and who presumes that he hath been of the same name was of the same Birth same Country and same countenance as the Governour of Caesario If you look on him with more earnestness then you have done for some daies past when he was with you in that very house where I received your assistances you will easily observe that resemblance and he is a person of such an age as wherein ten years cannot make so great an alteration as they may in that wherein one passes from infancy to a more advanced age While he thus spoke the eies of Cleopatra and Alexander were fixed on the countenance of Eteocles and it being very certain that it had undergone much lesse alteration then that of the Prince they immediately found therein all the features of that of Etâ—â—â—le with whom they had sometime been so familiar as having been one that had carried them thousands of times in his arms and had been brought up in the house as son to the faithful Apollodorus the dear favorite and confident of Queen Cleopatra Whereupon both the Prince and Princesse cryed out that it was really Eteocles and immediately turning to the Prince with an astonishment much greater then what they were in before by reason of this last circumstance Cleomedon said the Princesse to him for heavens sake keep us not any longer in the disturbance which you have raised in us and let us know that Caesario is living to tell us so much himself T is onely his death that abates that confidence which we raise from all the other circumstances and if Caesario were living I should be immediately satisfied that you were he Should he discover himself to be Caesario in any place that is under the jurisdiction of Augustus replyed the Princesse there is so little expectation of any Fortune thereby that iâ— were hard to suspect such a confession subject to any imposture but it is withall a thâ—â—g so glorious to be born of Caesar and Cleopatra that without an excesse of basenesse a man cannot disclaime it and there is so much satisfaction to Caesario to meet with a Brother and Sister great and amiable as Alexander and Cleopatra that no consideration in the World can oblige him any longer to conceal from them a brother they have dearly loved and one that hath continued towards them the tender affection he ever had for them With these words he came near Cleopatra with his arms stretched out and that fair Princesse soon satisfied those that were present that she knew him to be her brother by receiving from him and returning him those caresses which never had passed between her and any but those that were of that neer relation Alexander also received and returned the like by the command of Elisa and Candace whose presence obliged them to a greater reservednesse But notwithstanding all that bloud might perswade the children of Anthony to and the joy it must needs be to them to meet with a lost brother in the person of so great a man as Cleomedon yet was not all enough to
a person generally beloved and esteemed all in a manner congratulated his satisfaction to find himself treated by the fair and discreet Antonia as favourably as the severity of her vertue would permit Ptolomey was very observant towards Marcia Archelaus waited on the Princess Andromeda nay Tigranes though with much violence to himself had some discourse with Urania The best part of the night was spent when they gave over dancing whereupon this illustrious company separated to go to their several rests They all went to their several Lodgings out of the same design yet did not all equally find that which they were so desirous of Most of the Princes went along with the Emperour to see him abed and after they were all departed and that there was onely Agrippa according to his ordinary custome left with him Augustus looking attentively on him and observing the visible change of his humour his countenance and all his behaviour could not conceal from him his thoughts of it And in being ordinary with him to discover his heart to him upon all occasions Agrippa said he to him with a smile and in a way drolling enough have I not that place in your affection as that you will acknowledge a truth if I my self have discovered it since it is well known to you that I have not had any thing so secret or of such importance as I was not willing to communicate to you Agrippa who imagined what he would be harping at made no answer to his discourse so that the Emperour confirmed in his opinion by that silence I see said he to him what your design is you would have me much more a stranger to this then to all your other adventures whence I am the more satisfi'd of what I was already in a Manner confident of But think it not much to trust me upon this occasion since I have made you privy to all the important emergencies of my life and confess if you love me whether the Princess of the Parthians hath not deprived you of that indifference and freedome which had hitherto stood in defiance against all the Romane Beauties Ah my Lord replied Agrippa with a confusion he was not able to smother what actions of mine have given you occasion to conceive any such opinion 'T was apparent replied the Emperour in all you have either done or said in my presence since your first sight of that Princess in the account you gave me of her beauty and adventures in the passion which made you so earnest in your discourse when you desired my protection for her in your officiousness to entertain her all this night to the prejudice and dissatisfaction of other persons to whom no doubt but you had resigned that imployment had you not been too much concerned in it in the change I have observed in your countenance while you were speaking to her in your amorously passionate look in the gallantry and magnificence of your Cloaths beyond what you were wont to affect To be short in all the alteration might have been observed in you even by persons no way concerned in your affairs This discourse of the Emperour put Agrippa somewhat to a loss as not being able without a certain confusion to reflect on the notice he had taken of his passion and that at a time when he had disburthened himself upon his shoulders of the Government of the Empire But being consident withal that he could not but have an indulgence for a passion which he was so much subject to himself and imagining he could not long conceal from him that which was so great a torment to him he resolved to acknowledge it with the best countenance he could and encouraged by the assurance he was in of his affection My Lord said he to him were the respect I have for you consistent with elusions and dissimulation I should haply endeavour to conceal that which your discerning observation hath but too too easily discovered nor is it without some confusion I am forced to avow that at a time wherein it was most requisite some assistance of Wisdome should have secured me against the Passion which you have by so many marks discovered I have been o'recome by it through too weak a resistance 'T is true my Lord since I must of necessity acknowledge it I am in love I am desperately in love with the Princess of the Parthians and my heart hath submitted contrary to my intention to those powers which upon the first sight disarmed it of all its strength I know this weakness were not excusable if it were voluntary and that I should have made all the force I could to oppose the violence of a passion no way consistent with reason It would have been expected that the weight of the employments you honour me with and my affairs of greater consequence should have diverted my thoughts from any such thing and if I must be enslaved to Love it should have been for any one rather then a Princess born of a House in hostility with the Romane name and Empire a Princess next to the Princess Julia the greatest in the World a Princess that is Heir to a Monarchy the attainment whereof a Roman and a private person cannot with any likelihood of success propose to himself But my Lord I have been surprized and have to no purpose had recourse to the assistance of my Reason in an affair wherein it cannot be allowed any power It very much troubles me says the Emperour to him to find you defeated by that Passion in the manner you represent it to me and that not onely because it disturbs your quiet dearer to me then my own but that withal thwarts the design I had to bring you as near my self as I could by the alliance of some person of no great distance in bloud to me But since the tenderness I have for you is equal to that I have for Marcellus or my self and that all I either do or can do for you is below what may be due to a person who by his extraordinary actions hath in some measure raised me to the great Fortune I now enjoy I will contrary to my inclinations and without any regard to my interest endeavour your enjoyment and satisfaction Elisa is not the less amiable because she was born among our enemies and I shall not oppose the union of our Empires if it may be established by this alliance Nay on the contrary you may well imagine I should be infinitely pleased could I raise you to the Throne of those great Monarchs who have so long disputed superiority and Empire with Us Nor should the Dignity of Elisa deter you since that considering the Rank you are of that which you ought to be of upon the account of your Vertue and the Friendship I have for you there 's nothing in the Universe above you Be confident Agrippa your pretensions to Elisa are moderate and justifiable since you might have pretended to Julia and that
death by a thrust through the body and these three victories cost the terrible young man but so many blows But it was not in his heart nor yet in his countenance that the victory wrought its ordinary effects making it visibly appear that what heightned the insolence and hopes of his companions filled him with grief shame and confâ—sion He had stay'd a little time in expectation of another Adversary when accordingly there is one brought into the Arena upon whose appearance Quintilius Varus who knew him and had sent both him and the other to the Overscers of the Gladiators crying out aloud to the Emperour told him that Combat would be very pleasant for that the Gladiator last come in was little if at all inferiour in point of valour to his companion That discourse of Varus obliged those that were the more attentive to these sights to take more particular notice of the last and they found that as to his person the other had not much the advantage of him though he discovered less fierceness and that there seemed to be a greater mildness both in his eyes and countenance They were in many things much like one the other especially in their faces though it might be thought the latter was seven or eight years elder then his companion The young man no sooner saw him appear but lifting up his eyes to Heaven with an action full of grief and resentment O ye Gods cryed he O malicious Fortune is it possible you can reduce us to such deplorable extremities With which words there broke forth at his eyes a rivolet of tears Nor seemed there to be less grief and tenderness in him that was newly come in who after he had by certain words proceeding from the height of passion charged Heaven with the strangenesse of their misfortune both casting away their Swords and Bucklers upon the sand mutually embraced each other with so much affection and accompanyed their caresses with words so pressing that the most hard-hearted present were moved to compassion thereat It was the general imagination of the spectators that they should be deprived the pleasure they expected from the engagement of those two valiant Gladiators And indeed the King of Scythia Agrippa Artaban Ariobarzanes Philadelph Drusus and divers other who were mov'd to compassion at what they had seen were intreating the Emperor that those two men whom they thought worthy a better fortune might be spared when those who had the oversight of the Shows out of a design to divert the company by another kind of engagement let forth out of those places where they were kept for that purpose a Tygre one of the greatest and most furious that ever came out of Hyrcania Those that concerned themselves in the misfortune of those two men were extreamly troubled at the sight of that dreadfull creature nay Augustus himself mov'd thereat as others was not well pleased to see them exposed to that new danger But he had not time to considâ—r what course was fittest to be taken for their safety and the approaches of that terrible enemy having interrupted the embraces of the two Gladiators they both ran to their Swords and presented themselves to the furious beast with a resolution that discover'd they were not to be danted by any kind of danger but in that action they expressed no less the greatness of their Friendship then that of their Courage either of them being desirous to put himself before his companion so to expose himself to all the danger for the safety of his Friend Let me alone said the elder of the two that came last suffer me over-confident young man to have some part in the actions of this day Thou hast spilt bloud enough already and I would say thou hast gained glory enough had the occasion been but honourable Let me intreat thee by all our Friendship to keep back and hazard not in my sight a life I value much beyond my own The fierce young man would have made some reply and their contestation would haply have lasted longer if the pressing occasion had permitted it but the Tygre was ready to fasten on the former who put her off with his Buckler and with his Sword had made agreat gap in her side The fury of the cruel beast was augmented by the wound but instead of being reveng'd on him that gave it she turned towards his companion who immediatly cast himself before his Friends and was so fortunate as to cut off one of its unmercifull claws That done the Victory prov'd so much the less difficult to the two valiant men and after they had avoided the last attempts of the cruel Animal by two blows which they gave it both at the same time they laid it along on the sand breathing its last The enterprize being over they ran one to another with equal tenderness to see if they were wounded and having spent some little time in new embraces accompany'd with tears the younger of a sudden lifting up his head which till then he had not so much as turned towards the Assembly and addressing himself to the Emperour Caesar said he to him with a gesture heightned by a noble fierceness thou thinkâ—st it a great glory to expose to thy Gladiators and thy savage Beasts Princes who have not any way deserved such misfortune and those such as are not inferiour to thee either in birth or vertue Consummate consummate thy cruelty and find out some death or other for those who are not desirous to live after the shame thou hast exposed them to It may be our deaths were but requisit in order to thy safety and the quiet of the Romanes to whom this indignity makes us irreconcileable enemies And if Fortune once restore me the fortune she hath deprived me of I promise to the revenging Gods Rivers of Roman bloud to wash off the stain of that unworthy bloud thou hast occasioned me to spill this day These words though proceeding from a strange confidence and threats were so far from incensing the Emperour that they wrought in him much compassion and raised in him a certain remorse and confusion so that the mediations of those Princes who at the same time begged the liberty of those two persons was more then necessary to obtain it He with a gesture of his hand silenc'd the noise that was among the Spectators whereupon addressing his discourse to the valiant young man who had spoken tâ— him If thou art of such birth as thou pretendest said he to him I condemn with much grief the treatment thou hast receiv'd nay if thou wert not thou deservest for thy valour the Liberty which I now give you both The Gods are my witnesses and you also are convinced in your thoughts that both your names and fortunes were unknown to me and that I could not by any discovery discern you from ordinary Gladiators among whom it sometimes happens that there are persons of great courage and handsomeness of body This want of
engagement after some blows dealt on both sides and fought with little inequality at the distance of about a hundred paces from their companions The defender of Cleopatra had not engaged in that combat till such time as he saw there was no danger of her being carried away and meeting with an enemy more worthy his valour then the others he slighted he employed it against him with an ardent desire of victory He had given him many blows and had received from him a considerable number of others which proceeded not from an ordinary strength when with a back-blow he gave him over the head he broke the chin-pieces of his Casque and thereupon casting his eyes upon his face which was disarm'd he found in it the detestable countenance of his Rival and emplacable enemy Tiberius This discovery added to his fierceness and indignation but instead of offering at the Head of Tiberius who held up his Buckler to defend it Tiberius said he to him I am the Son of Juba thy Rival and mortal enemy I now bring thee a life which thou hast so long sought after and there is a possibility thou mayst this day satisfie thy self for the wound I gave thee at Rome and secure Cleopatra if Fortune prove favourable to thee But it is not before so many witnesses that our difference can be determined and to prevent their interposition let us go a little futher to decide it with more freedom I shall not make use of the advantage I have over thee and since thou hast lost thy Casque I will put off mine and fight with the upon equal terms With these words which Tiberius had heard with much patience he unty'd the chin-pieces of his Casque at king it off his head he discovered to him the face of Coriolanus The son of Livia grew pale at the sight but more out of exasperation then fear finding in the Proposition made to him by Coriolanus what he had been so much desirous of and what in the present condition he should most have wish'd after he had cast both on the Chariot where Cleopatra was and his almost defeated companions a look full of rage and madness he goes away without making any answer to his enemy and giving him notice by a sign that he would follow him went to find out a place more convenient wherein to decide their quarrel Their impatience and exasperation suffered them not to go very far so that being come to a place where they thought they should not be interrupted in their design they turn'd one against the other and with a force accompany'd with threats they began to deal hearty blows They were both careful to secure their disarmed heads with their Bucklers nay though they were not over-tender of their lives yet they opposed the Buckler to the Sword by a certain natural address or inclination and by that means their attempts for some time prov'd mutually ineffectual Tiberius was a person of great valour but one withal who had ever imagin'd it lawfull for a man to mind his advantages any way whatsoever and thinking it much more upon this occasion then any other after he had vainly endeavoured to draw bloud of his enemy he in a pass wherein himself receiv'd a wound in the shoulder watch'd his opportunity to run his Horse into the breast and so fortunatly met with the place where it should prove mortal that the Horse after some resistance fell down of a sudden with his Master under him so unhappily that burthened with his weight he found it no easie matter to disengage himself Tiberius naturally cruel and aspiring at a victory that should gain him Cleopaira put his Horse forward to ride over his enemy with a design to dispatch him out of the way but the Horse frightned at that of Cortolanus which lay still strugling upon his Master notwithstanding all the endeavours of Tiberius could not by any means come near him The impatient Son of Livia loath to let slip an occasion so favourable alights to go and make sure of his enemy and with his Sword ready for the execution went towards him O whathappiness was it to the fair Cleopatra that she was not present at that spectacle and what affliction would it have been to her to see her dear Coriolanus overthrown and at the mercy of the cruel Tiberius He was in a manner perswaded that nothing could rescue his Rival from death when he perceives him after much ado got from under his Horse coming towards him with an indignation heightned by his fall such as against which all the strength of Tiberius were likely too weak to make any resistance Nor was it long erc he made him sensible of it the provoked Son of Juba continually charging with such blows as the Buckler being vainly opposed against them drew bloud from Tiberius in several places and put him out of all hopes of a victory which not many minutes be fore he thought indisputably his own However the rage he was in supply'd his strength for a time notwithstanding the bloud he still lost nay he was sofortunate as to see some of Coriolanus's upon his Arms to hope that if he could not overcome he should in some measure reveng his death But that satisfaction lasted not long for soon after he grew so weak and was so by his Adversary that staggering backwards he fell down and had not the strength to rise again Coriolanus advanced towards him with his Sword the point up and coming to him with a menancing out-cry Thou diest Tiberius said he to him thou diest or if thou wouldst live thou must quit all retensions to Cleopatra The Son of Livia in whom rage and madness had smothered all desire of life looking on him with a direfull aspect wherein notwithstanding his weakness his arrogance was sufficiently remarkable Strike Son of Juba said he to him and suffer not to live an Enemy from whom thou hadst received thy death if Fortune had been less unkind to him I shall be thy Rival to the last gasp nor is it the fear of death shall force me quit Cleopatra This discourse of Tiberius raised in Coriolanus a greater esteem for him then all the precedent actions of his life had done and looking on him with a look wherein appeared nothing of an enemy Thy example said he to him shall not oblige me to give thee thy death that it may be seen Tiberius and Coriolanus can make different advantages of their victory according to their several inclinations Thou shalt live invincible and thou shalt live a Servant to Cleopatra but since thou hast courage enough to dispute her even to death remember It is by vertue thou shouldst have gained her and that artifices and illegal authority are unworthy a person that can prefer death before the shame of being overcome Having spoke those words which Tiberius heard with an augmentation of grief and jealousie he was going towards him to give him an assistance he
others had made were observed which was that what was past should be pardoned and that the people should not be called to account for a misfortune which the King run himself upon first by his cruelty and afterwards by his imprudence in hazarding himself as he had done and assaulting with so much animosity and so little foresight an armed and an exasperated multitude That for his own part he assured me of his fidelity to the last gasp and protested he was not glad at the Kings death though he had pronounced the sentence of his against him and that that day might haply have been the last of his life if the Gods had not by so unexpected a resolution prevented it That the people were ready to honour and acknowledge me for their gracious Queen that the most eminent persons were the more confirmed in that sentiment and that all desired the Princes might be sought out and setled in the throne of her Ancestors with a husband fit to govern them Such favourable dispositions in the hearts of our Subjects delivered me from all my fears and somewhat alleviated my misfortune and in fine Artanez did so well with the assistance of other well-affected persons that the next day all things were wholly appeased and the next to that the Kings body was disposed among the Monuments of the Arsacides with little pomp but with the same Ceremonies and as if he had dyed a natural death Two dayes after Artanez on whom I dis-burthened my self of some part of the government tels me that the most eminent among the Parthians and with them the people though ready enough to obey me desired a general Assembly wherein it might be considered what were to be done for the recovery of the Princess and the joyning of her to a husband that should succeed Phraates and govern them with more moderation then he had done I thought their desires very just and suitable to my own intentions since that they thereby discovered that they looked not on Venonez Phraates's natural son who was brought up at Rome with some pretence to the Crown so that a day being appointed all the principal Nobility among the Parthians met with several representatives of the people having all freedome of debate about what the whole Nation was concerned in The first thing resolved on was to oppose the pretensions of Venonez if so be he had any and to maintain against the Bastard the right of the lawful Princess to the last man This passed it was taken into consideration how the Princess should be found out and that to that purpose such persons should be imployed as the State were assured of and afterward it was proposed that she might make choice of a husband worthy her and the rank she is to be of But it was generally declared by all that it should not be Tigranes that he was a stranger an Allie if not a dependent on the Romanes and which is more that he was their enemy and not affected by the Princess who was not to be denied the liberty of her own choice There were those among the Souldiery who gave their Votes that Artaban should be their King that he was a person not hated by their Princess that the Crown was due to his valour and that under such a Prince as Artaban was they should fear neither the Medes nor the Romanes nor all the forces nor powers of the World This Discourse was no sooner started but the Assembly rung again with the name of Artaban so that the major voice was that Artaban should be chosen King But all the most eminent persons among the Parthians being present and among those many that were allyed to the House of the Arsacides who were flatter'd with a hope of being preferred before persons of a lower rank then themselves there was a considerable number of them that opposed the Proposition made in favour of Artaban and represented to the multitude that desired him That Artaban was indeed worthy the Government design'd him that upon the account of his Valour he might aspire to any thing and that his worth was such as that nothing was too great for him but that they would not have an unknown person placed in the Throne of Arsaces which had never been possessed but by Princes of the most illustrious bloud in the World and that those very persons who so much desired him would in a short time think it a regret to obey a Man whose Birth was nothing above their own Several persons had heard this discourse and it began to get credit among the multitude when Artanez who should have been the most likely to countenance it as being by reason of his Rank and the Bloud-Royal whereof he was the most concerned in it having with much patience heard the opinions of all the rest assumes the discourse and looking on the Nobles and People with such an action as whence they imagined he had some great matter to acquaint them withal I approve said he to them the fidelity of the Parthians and the zeal they express for the welfare of the State and the interest of their Queen and I am to acknowledge it the goodness of the Gods that I am this day in a capacity to satisfie both according to their just intentions These gallant Souldiers and brave Men who by their Swords have maintained this Monarchy have reason to desire for their Prince the same Artaban under whose conduct they have gain'd so many famous Victories and those whom Blood hath raised to the highest Dignities of this Kingdome desire with justice a Prince for their Soveraign But to satisfie all I am now to declare that Artaban is not onely a Prince born but a Prince of the same Blood with their Kings that he is descended from the great Arsaces as well as Phraates and that this truth will be undeniable when it shall be acknowledged that he is my Son It is certain O ye Parthians continued he Artaban is my Son and there are many persons among you who may call to mind that they have seen a Son of mine of that very name of Artaban which was also that of my Father and of the same age who about his tenth year accompanied me in my escape and whom since to elude the cruel designs of the King who attempted his life as well as mine I sent to be brought up in strange Nations He came back to me about the beginning of the War between the Parthians and the Medes and out of the resentment I had against the King who desisted not his persecutions of me even in my solitude I sent him to the service of the King of Media where by his Valour he soon came to the highest Commands in the Army Yet thought I not fit even then to discover this truth but have still conceal'd it though I have had secret conferences with Artaban as with a Friend and not as with a Son Nay I had caused it to be given out that
intreat him upon motives of necessity and great importance that he would continue the Parthians in the account which Artanez hath given them of him and let all the world beleive that he is a Prince of the bloud of Arsaces this perswasion will establish his Government with more security will take away the dissatisfactions of the most eminent among the Parthians and will clear you and me of all the accusations which might be put up against us Artaban entertained this discourse of the Queen with such eruptions of joy which he could not suppress otherwise then by the same submissions which he had made to the Princess and being pressed to make the Queen some answer concerning her desire that he should take upon him to be Artanes's son As I am not said he to her obliged to do that for the Parthians nor all mankind besides which I am for my Princess so am I not by any reason compelled to give the Parthians that account of my birth which with all sincerity I should to my Princess and so I shall be content they believe me of the bloud of Arsaces nay of that of the Gods if they will and suffer them to persist in an opinion which is glorious to me and that so much the rather for that they have received it of themselves and that I have not attributed ought thereto Mean time Madam continued he casting himself again at the Queens feet give me leave to render you what we owe our Guardian-Gods and to assure you that though you raise me to a Fortune beyond the highest pretensions yet shall you not make me forget that I am Britomarus rather then Artaban and that among all your natural subjects you shall not find any more submissive or more faithful To this he added other protestations whereby he expressed his gratitude towards the Queen and Princess so that at last the Queen seemed to be no less satisfyed then himself with the resolution had been taken for his advantage But after that interval of joy there was to succeed another of grief for the Princess being obliged to give the Queen an account of what she knew of her adventures her condition in the Court of Augustus after she had made her tremble at the relation of the dangers she had run through by her meeting with the Pirates the loss of Artaban and her own captivity and raised her spirits again by that of her arrival in Alexandria her finding of Artaban and the good entertainment she at first received from Augustus passed to the story of the love of Agrippa the persecution she suffered from the Emperour and at last to the cruel declaration he had made to her that very day and the choice he had put her to either of marrying Agrippa or being return'd into hands of the King her Father adding to this discourse that the Gods had sent her to her assistance when it was absolutely necessary and that if she had stayed but a day longer she would haply have found her in some deplorable condition The Queen was vext to the heart at the procedure of Augustus thought it very strange that to countenance his Favourite he should violate the priviledges of Hospitality and would usurp an unjust Authority over a Princess who might dispute precedence with any of her Sexe in the World After she had expressed her dissatisfaction by some complaints against him she in some measure comforted and re-assured the Princess by telling her that the change of her condition was such as that she might slight the threats of Augustus that she could not imagine he durst force her to marry Agrippa that it was in his power to have put her into the hands of the King her Father and might have effected it but that she could not beleive he would do to a Queen of Parthia a publick violence which would raise against him the interests of all those Kings that were not tributary to him and that she would make no difficulty to declare to him that her Daughter was promised to Artaban a Prince of the Blood-Royal of Parthia whom the Parthians desired for their Soveraign After this resolution taken as also that of opposing to the utmost the pretensions of Tigranes if he persisted therein the Princess acquainted the Queen with what passed that were of importance at Alexandria among so many illustrious persons as were then in that City gave her the names of all the most considerable and an account of their most remarkable adventures She particularly on the concernment she took in those of the Princess Cleopatra and Queen Candace and by the short discourse wherewith she entertained the Queen thereof she raised in her a great compassion for the misfortunes of two such illustrious Princesses as also abundance of acknowledgement for the generous proffers of that famous King of Scythia of whom she had with admiration heard so much and whose sight she was desirous of as that of an extraordinary person While things stood thus at the Queen of Parthia's and that at the Princess Cleopatra's and the Queen of Aethiopia's there was nothing but fear and dispair Livia was with Tiberius much joyed to see him escaped the mortal danger that had threatned his life and on the other side much troubled too see him exposed to the torments which his unfortunate passion forced him to She had several times endeavoured to cure him of it and the predominant passion in her being that of Ambition she would have been more glad to see him make his addresses to one of the Emperour 's Neices then to the Princess Cleopatra and considered the advantages he might make of Caesar's alliance more then the attractions and divine excellencies of Anthony's Daughter Tiberius himself who was no less ambitious then amorous and who upon the predictions of Thrasyllus who was still about him had entertained some pretensions to the Empire would himself have gladly been rid of that violent love which made him spend the choicest part of his life in unhappiness and torment Nay it was some trouble to him to disturb the fortune and persecute the life of a person who with so much generosity had given him his own and when he did it would not oblige him to disclaim his pretensions to Cleopatra Upon these considerations he often wished his own recovery but still ineffectually for that notwithstanding all his endeavours the Idaea of the fair Cleopatra would not out of his thoughts At last the Empress perceiving she could not to her own desires contribute to the settlement of his greatness would needs further that of his satisfaction and if possible assure him of Cleopatra since the preservation of his life was dependent thereon It came at last into her mind that the life of Coriolanus was such a hindrance to his enjoyments as nothing could remove and whereas she was highly exasperated against him as having two several times reduced her Son to the extremeities of life and death she thought no
us in Alexandria is more then needed since that you bring design'd a Husband for my Daughter and content upon our intreaty to pass for a Prince of the Royal Bloud of Parthia he could not imagine we should depart hence without having you along with us Artaban was going to make some reply to this obliging discourse with all the acknowledgement he could express upon the like occasion when casting his eye towards the Closet door he observes the person who was come in with the Queen and whom he thought of her retinue as the Queen had thought him one of his servants The first Idea he took of him obliged him to take a more particular notice then before and he had not looked long upon his countenance but notwithstanding the change which several years and accidents had brought upon it he immediately knew him by the memory he had dearly preserved of him He rose of a sudden forgetting at that instant the place where he was and the persons that were about him Oh Father said he oh Briton is it possible I see you again And thereupon going up to him with his arms spread he would have embraced him with a filial tenderness had he not just then remembred himself that he was before the Queen that the respect he ow'd her permitted not those endearments Upon that recollection of himself he onely took him be the hand with all the marks of an earnest affection and turning towards the Queen Pardon me Madam said he to her pardon me I beseech you an offence which so unexpected an accident hath caused me to commit speaking somewhat lower out of a fear of being heard by those in the next room since that with all the favours you have done me you restore me my Father give me leave to present him to you not for a Prince such as he who would have acknowledged me for his Son but for a person of Noble Bloud and one who makes vertue over-ballance all advantages You would have me of the Bloud of Arsaces and I was unwilling to discover then from whom I came or disclaim a Father worthy for his great courage of a better Fortune The condition which you see him in though it speaks no great eminency I am not at all ashamed of and whatever he may appear in your sight if I have any thing of vertue if any thing great in my soul it is from his bloud and from his inspiration that I derive it To be short Madam you now see Briton the true Father of Britomarus and not Artanez the imaginary Father of Artaban If the Son hath deserved any thing from you you will have a kindness for the Father and if as Son of such a Father you think me unworthy of the favour you would have done me consider withal that I have not pressed it and that it is yet in your power to deprive me of all hopes of it While Artaban spoke to this purpose Briton whom a respect to the Queens presence had also kept from the open discovery of himself wrung him by the hand with an earnestness not inferiour to his and though he kept silence made his affections articulate by those tears of joy and tenderness which fell from his eyes The Queen who was much astonished and it may be not a little troubled at that accident discovered her amazement in her countenance and the Princess though she continued constant in the design she had upon Artaban yet was she not able to oppose a certain grief at the sight of a Father so unsuitable to the greatness and fortune of her Artaban They both discovered their confusion by their silence and Artaban himself notwithstanding the transcendency of his soul felt some trouble rising in his mind from that which he thought he observed in the countenance of his Princess Briton overcoming that which till then had hindred him from speaking looking on Artaban with eyes inflamed with some extraordinary liveliness Oh Britomarus said he to him Oh Artaban Oh man great as my desire and much greater then my hopes you are now such as I have made it my suit to the merciful Gods to make you and now also am I at liberty to do you the justice I owe you and to restore you what with reason I have taken away from you and which you your self will out of your own generosity take away Notwithstanding your Greatnesse notwithstanding your arrival to the highest Dignity in the World you acknowledg Briton to be your Father it is then but just that Briton should find you a Father worthy of you and divest himself of an honour which is not due to him to render you that which he cannot without injustice any longer detain from you No Madam continued he turning to the Queen Artaban comes not of the Bloud of Arsaces but is of a Bloud which may be allied to that of Arsaces and to that of the Gods without any injury to them as being born of a Father who was the glory of the Universe whom all the Earth acknowledged its Conquerour and to whose memory all the world owes a respect and veneration If you desire Scepters and Crowns of him he cannot give you any but by his Sword it is all the Fortune of his Father and his own hath left him though his Father hath disposed of Crowns and seen a thousand Kings at his feet but if to make him worthy the greatness to which you design him it suffice that he is born of a Father and come from a Bloud that is illustrious the World is hardly able to afford a more glorious extraction or more consonant to the greatness of his Soul and that of his Fortune To this effect was Britons discourse when Artaban looking on him with a countenance which discovered the small credit he gave to what he said Give over Father said he to him give over flattering my ambition by an imaginary birth and a glory which as it is not my due so I cannot receive I should heartily wish to be the more worthy to serve my Princess that I were born of no other Father then your self but that you were such a one as he whom you would give me but since it hath been the pleasure of the Gods it should be so it satisfieth me that I am born of a Father in whom Vertue is more remarkable then all other advantages and though I could make all the World believe what you would now perswade me to yet should it be far from my thoughts to be guilty of such unworthiness towards the Queen and Princess Imagine not replies Briton that I would celebrate you by a discourse contrary to truth and remember your self you have ever known me much an enemy to falshood and artifice besides it were but too glorious for me to be Father of such a Son to disclaim you and there were but few Fathers in World who willingly would divest themselves of such an advantage if they might with justice
which she had for her Son put into her thoughts kissed him a thousand times with affectionate tears and recommended him to us as a Depositum which was more dear to her than her own life bid us at last a doleful adieu and took shipping to pass into Italy where we retired to her house near Alba with the Ashes of her Husband which Caesar sent her some time after After her departure we took up our habitation as she had directed on the other side of Cyprus where though obscurely we lived handsomely enough and brought up our dear charge with an affection no less than if he had been our own Son and suitable to the respect we ow'd him as that of Pompey There we spent two years at the end whereof perceiving that too much notice was taken of our being in Cyprus and that we might be suspected by such persons as had seen us about Cornelia we bethought us of another retiring place and having understood that the two young Princes Cneius and Sextus Pompeius had a very powerful Army in Spain and were in some hopes by the favour and assistance of Fortune to revenge their Father and restore themselves to their former Dignity we departed from Cyprus with the Child and what Gold and Jewels we had left with a design to pass into Spain But we had not been many dayes at sea ere a violent tempest overtook us which having put us out of our way and continued several dayes with much hazard of our lives and that of little Pompey whom we were more in fear of than our selves cast us upon the coast of Egypt but at the great distance from Alexandria and the fatal channel where I had seen the ruine of my great Master We were hardly got to shore but the design we had to pass into Spain came to nothing by the news we had of the overthrow of Pompey's Children who had been defeated near the City of Munda in a bloody Battel wherein they had found Caesar more work and had put him into more danger than he had met with in all the engagements he had ever been in we understood that the elder Cneius had been killed and that Sextus had escaped but whether he had retreated none knew This fatal news which ruined all my hopes and put me into an insupportable sorrow was seconded by an unfortunate accident that happened not long after the death of my Wife Herennia whose loss I was so much troubled at that certainly wearied out with so great misfortunes I should gladly have parted with my life had I not thought my self obliged to continue it for the education of Pompey's Son I therefore resolved to make it absolutely my business as thinking it all I had to do in the world and finding the air of that part of Egypt where we then were excellently well agreeing with the Child and considering there was no place where with less probability a Son of Pompey might be found I resolved to expect in that place the change of our Fortune and how the Gods should dispose of Prince Sextus I accordingly took up my habitation in a considerable Town where by what I had received from the liberality of Cornelia finding I might live after a handsome rate I would spare nothing as to the young Prince's education whom I named Britomarus the better to perswade the world by that resemblance of names that he was my Son He may well remember Madam and haply hath given you an account how I have brought him up and how that upon discovery of the miraculous advantages he derived from nature I endeavoured to improve them by my care and a noble education My pains therein Madam were suitable to my design finding out with no small charge the most excellent men the Country could afford to instruct him in all exercises insomuch that those who measured me according to the outward appearances of Fortune much wondred to see the Son of such a Father so brought up Britomarus himself hath many times been astonished thereat and knows that I have omitted nothing that might heighten the excellency of his natural abilities My hopes were somewhat raised by the actions of Sextus Pompeius who had possessed himself of Sicily and put to Sea a powerful Navy wherewith after the death of Julius Caesar he continued the War against Octavius and Anthony his successors and that with great suspence of Fortune but at last having been basely murthered by his Lieurenants all that remained of the blood of Pompey was in the person of Britomarus I shall not put him in mind of many particulars which he cannot forget whence he might well imagine that he was somewhat greater than Son to Briton Nor shall I dilate my self any further as to his education you may have learned it from himself how that desirous to train him up to some high and noble things in some Princes Court and having a horrour for that of Alexandria where reigned the detestable Progeny of that wicked Ptolomey who had with so much baseness put his Father to death I brought him to that of the King of Aethiopia and made him particularly apply himself to the service of the Princess Candace You may also have understood from him the generous difference happened between him and Prince Cleomedon wherein he discovered himself to be the Son of Pompey and by his management thereof which put the whole Court into admiration gave me such satisfaction as that I found some pleasure in the inconvenience it was to me some days after upon that accident to find out another abode He may further have acquainted you how we left Meroe and Aethiopia how we travelled into several Provinces and how passing into Arabia we were set upon by certain Arabian Robbers by whom I was taken and by him given over for absolutely lost Only I am to tell you Madam that whilest I brought him up in Egypt notwithstanding the distance between it and that part of Italy where great Pompey's Widow made her residence I often gave her an account of him by a slave she left with me to that purpose to whose fidelity she trusted that secret He made many journeys upon that score and brought me many Letters from that vertuous Princess whereof I have very carefully preserved some which the Robbers and the several Masters into whose hands I fell were pleased to leave me though they took from me all things else which they thought better worth the taking I shall not trouble you Madam with a relation of what hath happened to me since that doleful separation besides that it were not just to abuse your attention by a discourse of so little importance I have not been engaged in any thing that might deserve it and shall therefore only acquaint you and the Prince I have brought up who no doubt out of the excellency of his nature thinks himself in some measure concerned therein that after I had been taken by the Arabians and robbed of
love for Antonia as to have the courage to embrace the resolution you have taken I know the affection and enjoyment of Antonia ought not to be expected by the son and brother of the persecutors and implacable enemies of her house but am sensible withal that I cannot but dying quit the hope I had conceived thereof and I will satisfie both Antonia and your self who do me all the justice you should upon this occasion how little I am concerned in the cruel design of your enemies by exposing my self first to their cruelty and punishing that of Livia by the death of Drusus as you would that of Augustus by the loss of Marcellus Prince Marcellus admiring this generous design of Drusus came to him with his arms spread and embracing him with much tenderness Ah Drusus said he to him your vertue fills me with shame and confusion but the discovery you now make of it was more then needed to produce the effect you desire and as I am satisfied that your sentiments have ever been different from those of Livia and Tiberius so are you to assure your self that our resentment was never directed against you and that we never had any intention to make you lose what you had but too highly deserved from the affections of Antonia Live for her sake since she hath been so fortunate as to gain such a heart as yours and be confident that all the misfortunes whereto the authority of Livia hath exposed us cannot change the inclinations we have for your vertue nor make us repent the joy we have conceived at the good fortune of our sister What you say proceeds from abundance of generosity replies Drusus but it is as contrary to your intentions as it is favourable to mine since I must entertain sentiments so obliging with more acknowledgment then can admit my desertion of their interests and fortunes to whom I am so highly engaged Ah Drusus saye the Princess Cleopatra to him with much mildness preserve your self though but to comfort Antotonia in the grief which no doubt the will be in at our loss I owe replies the Prince this demonstration of a love whereof she hath hitherto received but slight expressions and certainly this opportunity is no more then I stood in need of to perswade her to that which all my past actions have not been able to do Coriolanus who had not yet spoken to Drusus thinking himself obliged to express his sentiments of what he did I durst not said he to him joyn my entreaties to those of Cleopatra and Marcellus out of a fear they might not be well taken by a brother of Tiberius's but I can assure you that as all the inconveniences I have by his means undergone have not diverted me from the acknowledgment and esteem I should have for your vertue so do I not to perswade either Marcellus or any of the house of Antonia see any necessity of the discovery whereto you expose your self If you have had an esteem for me replies Drusus I assure you I have ever admired you and that all the concernments of my brother have not hindred me from paying that to your worth which all acknowledg due to it This reason may add somewhat to all the rest to perswade you if you will not receive me as a Hostage against your enemies to entertain me as a companion of your fortune and if Sempronius stays only for this declaration that he may give Cesar and Livia a full account of our resolutions he need stay no longer Nor shall I says Sempronius to him but go and with Cesar and Livia amaze all the world that two Princes such as Marcellus and Drusus should disclaim the interests of Cesar and their own house to joyn with their enemies Whereupon he left the room and going out of the Castle went to the Palace to give Cesar an account of what passed among those Illustrious persons The whole Court was in sadness and disturbance when he came thither especially all the house of Octavia That generous Princess after she had ineffectually made her application to Augustus with whom the interest of Livia made the sollicitations of all others fruitless was preparing to go to the Castle with her daughters the children of Anth. to get Cleo. thence but the Emperour staid her out of a confidence that Marcellus would bring her along with him upon which hope they were in some impatience for the return of Marcellus when Sempronius came thither immediately gave Augustus a true relation of all that had passed not disguising any thing and by that discourse instead of raising any tenderness in him at the action of Marcellus he put him into the most violent indignation he had ever been in What cryes he Marcellus that Marcellus whom I loved not only as my son but haply as my self that Marcellus for whom I designed both my daughter and the place I have in the world disclaims my party to embrace that of my enemies and persers the friendship of a Babarian before that of Caesar his Father and Benefactor Ah unworthy ah ungrateful person continued he walking up and down extreamly incensed I will punish thy ingratitude and baseness and will begin thy punishment by the death of that African which he shall suffer before thy face While he was speaking he perceives the Empress coming into the room and going to meet her Madam said he to her you are treated by Drusus as I am by Marcellus and your son guilty of an ingratitude great as that of my Nephew disclaims all friendship with his brother and mother and betrays his honour to take part with that enemy who hath so often sheathed his sword in his brothers breast Livia who had a greater affection for Drusus then she had for Tiberius was extremely troubled at that account of him but being one that had an excellent command of her wit she in some measure stifled her grief before the Emperour the better to perswade him that she was less sensible of what had happened to her self then what had befallen him My Lord said she to him Drusus's offence is yet more heinous then Marcellus's and though he may pretend the love he hath for Antonia as a colour for this extravagance and so neglect the revenging of a brother upon a man who had never been his friend as he was to Prince Marcellus yet am I less troubled at his ingratitude then at that of Marcellus because you should be less sensible of it and that the injury you receive from Marcellus is so much the greater by how much his person is dearer to you I shall make him know added the Emperor that I am his Master when I cease to be his father and before this day be over he shall bewail in tears of blood the offence he hath committed Upon which words unwilling to delay any longer the effects of his resentment and the resolution he had taken he commanded Petronius and Aquilius to go along with Sempronius
greatest man and in a manner Master of the Universe only to employ the greatness I have given thee to the shame of the name thou bearest and the ruine of my posterity What is remaining of it among men in the person of a Prince who would better become the rank that 's due to him and in which I have unfortunately placed thee after he had sought security among the Sun-burnt Nations against the first discoveries of thy cruelty is still exposed thereto and expects the stroke of that inhumane sword which thou hast lifted over his head He disputes not any thing with thee though he lawfully might all and yet thou thinkest much to let him live in the extremities of the earth where he had by the assistances of heaven found refuge Thou wert the death of his mother a person I dearly loved as also that of Anthony my faithful friend Their daughter the miracle and ornament of her times finds in thee a cruel persecutor and a Prince the glory of his age one I loved in his infancy and promised the kingdoms of his father which I had added to thy dominions after he hath setled it by his valour nay after he hath saved thy life in the greatest danger thou wert ever exposed to expects from thy unmerciful hand the period of his noble life Men were in a disposition to forget thy horrid proscriptions upon thy personated change but thou returnest to thy former humour and thinkest it a trouble to acquire a deserved fame by a reall vertue Reflect on all the transactions of my life such as might well be proposed as a pattern for thee and see whether of that great number of enemies who fought against both my life and fortunes I ever put one to death after victory had brought them into my power if this example and the remembrance of what thou owest my blood and the obligations thou hast to vertue cannot move thee go base executioner go Son of Octavius unhappily called into the house of the Caesars by an unjust adoption go sacrifice all to thy revenge and ambition and glut thy self with the blood thou art so desirous to see spilt Thy inhumanity shall not go unpunished and if the Gods give thee a long and peaceablelife it shall be crossed with domestick discontents such as shall haply be stinging enough to put thee in mind of thy cruelties Since thou derivest a satisfaction from the death of mine thou shalt also see that of thy own it shall not be long ere thou lament the losse of thy dearest hopes and after thou hast while living bewayled the death of what had been most dear to thee thou shalt leave thy place contrary to thy present intention to what thou raisest for the destruction of mankind and to such successors as shall be the burthen and hatred of the earth To this effect was the discourse of the Great Caesar which he concluded with a look inflamed with indignation upon his successor who was so smartly moved thereat that making a sudden interruption in his sleep the impression left of it in him was so strong that he thought at his waking he saw disappear the reverenced shade of his illustrions Predecessor Certain it is this dream which seem'd to portend something extraordinary mov'd him in such a manner and fastened on his thoughts with so much appearence of truth that it was along time ere he could well discern whether it were a dream or a real apparition It made him reflect on whatever he had heard said of Visions whether reall or imaginary among other things called to mind that of the evill Genius of Brutus which presented it self to him before the battel of Philippi After all these considerations concluding it was only in a dream that Cesar had appeared to him since he had seen him only in his sleep he began to reflect on the menaces and reproaches that fell from him He was well enough satisfied as to the latter but found much obscurity in the former though by that which was made to him of the loss of his dearest hopes affection naturally guilty of a certain timidity made him imagine it might relate to the death of Marcellus That consideration moved him very much and that the more because Marcellus's condition and resolutions were such as he might well fear any thing so that not able to smother certain sighs What said he must I then lose my son Marcellus whom notwithstanding the resentment I have against him I still love beyond my life His thoughts were much more taken up with that menace and those consequent thereto than they were with the reproaches though these raised in him some confusion and at certain times a remorse It was far dayes ere he could divert his reflections from this importunate dream which incessantly came still into his mind or resolve whether he should persist in his resolutions after the menaces of heaven which he thought discovered to him by the great Cesar At last overcoming the impression that made such a disturbance in him What said he Cesar frightned at a dream a dream make Cesar quit the resolutions he had taken No no continued he I will never be reproached with that weakness and if my father who charges me with cruelty had secured himself by maximes suitable to mine his reign had not been so short nor his illustrious life been exposed to the rage of his enemies With which words he got out of his bed endeavouring to disengage his thoughts of those importunate ideas that disturbed him yet could he not do it so well but that those who were waiting his getting up observed in his countenance somewhat more than ordinary of pensiveness which they attributed to the actions of the precedingday whereby he had been moved to several passions which had wrought some change in his disposition His Court was but small that morning or if it were great it was by reason of the number and not the dignity of the persons about him for of all the Kings Princes and other considerable persons that were in Alexandria there came only King Tigranes and the King of Comagene with such of the Romans as he had cast particular favours on and the Officers of the Pretorian bands All the rest were elsewhere and betimes in the morning upon the intreaty of the King of Scythia the King of Armenia the Prince of Cilicia the King of Cappodocia and with them Crassus Lentulus and divers other illustrious Romans met together at the King of Scythia's lodgings to resolve what course should be taken for the safty of so many excellent persons Every one gave his opinion suitable to the degree of his esteem or friendship for the besieged Princes so that Alcamenes finding the intentions of all concurr'd to do something in order to their deliverance especially Ariobarzanes and Philadelph who sensible of their obligations to Artaban and concerned in the interest of Alexander by reason of that of Artemisa would run any hazard
well as his I am able to affirm as a constant Witness that never forsook him he had no more hand in any part of the action than if he had then been at Rome onely amusing himself with political maxims how to govern the Provinces and preserve the Cities in obedience that we have reduced while my Master at the head of his Army did the business of the War making new brooks of barbarous blood run through Campania The Enemies had two renowned Captains among them he that led the Asturians was called Sillo and Theopistus commanded the Cantabrians They had many flying bodies besides rang'd under several Lieutenants which were placed as necessity advised in divers parts of the Provinces where they might best distress the Romans their Cities were universally up in Arms fortified with strong Garrisons and furnish'd with abundance of Victuals all their streights and passes upon Rivers defended with so much strength and caution as it appeared no petty enterprise no contemptible task to tame this warlike people Yet the threats of these difficulties instead of discouraging enflamed the heart of the fierce young Prince with an eager desire of forcing from those fair occasions an improvement of his Glory and joyning to his admirable valour and incredible prudence if compared with his years he began to act in that War both by Conduct and Execution like another Hannibal or a Julius Caesar never did any thing appear so beautiful as my brave Prince in the functions of his charge and when his head was in a Casque that noble and warlike mind was so highly advantaged by the grace he used in his command as his Enemies themselves had not power to behold him without affection the first time he presented himself to their view was upon the bank of a little River where Theopistus appeared in person at the head of above 30000 Combatants the River was narrow but scarce fordable which kept the Armies from joyning and forced them for a long time to fight at a distance with no other weapons than Arrows till my Master knowing the advantage of the Romans consisted in a closer Combat and not in those wooden shours whereby the Barbarians might happily dispute the Victory with danger to his party after he had sought the fittest place he spurred his Horse into the water and like another Alexander at the passages of Granicus both by words and example encouraged a part of his Cavalry to keep him company in the danger and thus sometimes fording sometimes swimming their Horses they gained the opposite bank The Cantabrians amazed at so prodigious a daring had not courage enough left them to stand the Encounter and my Master taking advantage of the disorder wherein fear and wonder had shuffled them gave his Enemies a hot charge and his own Souldiers time to pass the River with greater facility than before which still came up with such fresh supplies to his succour as at last he totally routed their Army and carried so entire a victory as more than 15000 Barbarians were left dead upon the spot The first loss struck such a terror into the Enemy as made them mannage their quarrel with more Caution A few days after they thought they had gotten an occasion to revenge the last slaughter by our total ruine and indeed they put us in great danger for my Prince sitting down with his Army before a Town called Tilloe built upon a Marsh and made by its Situation almost inaccessible the Enemies two Generals having rallied and rais'd all the Forces they could make came up with an admirable diligence in two great bodies incamped themselves at our backs and shut us up between the City the Marsh and their two Armies leaving no passage free unless we could cut out the way through one of their gross bodies My Master presently perceived what an Error his Ignorance in the Country had made him incur but loath to give his Souldiers time to perceive their disadvantage and receive a terrour that might give the Enemies the victory to save his men he resolv'd to raise the Siege and judging the design more fit for the favourite of darkness than light having caus'd the Troops and Legions to be ready to march about midnight and giving all necessary orders to the Officers he sent two or three hundred men to give an Allarm at Theopistus Quarters and when the Enemies believ'd the danger bent it self that way and he suddenly broke with all his Forces upon Sillo's Army threw down all that stood in his way and by his Example we charg'd so vigorously as assisted by our sudden surpizal and the fire we threw about into all the Quarters of their Camp and the nights darkness which increas'd the terrour we put them to such a general rout as after we had killed about 10000 Barbarians we passed through their Camp upon the necks of the rest which were left covered with Carkasses and blood and made good our retreat scarce with the loss of 600 men to the top of a Mountain where we incamped before day whose new-born light made us quickly understand our selves in a condition to present them battel This brave piece of service pass'd for a miracle among the Barbarians and so fearfully astonisht them as in stead of marching in Battel against us they rose up with their Army and directed their March through the City they went and encamp'd on the other side the Marsh A few days after my Master re-inforcing his numbers with the supplies of 8000 Foot and 4000 Horse which Carisius had sent him he re-attaqu'd the City so vigorously as in spight of the Enemies Army that lay at the Gates on the other side and fortified it with numbers necessary for defence within six days time we carried it by storm and marched toward the Enemy with so much Courage and Confidence as it took away theirs and obliged them to a timorous retreat into such places whose Situation hindred us from forcing them to fight I contract the recital of these things in as narrow a volume as possible for should I tie my relation to every particular it would cost more time than I have now to lay out upon the whole Discourse While these things pass'd at the Camp Fame daily carried intelligence of my Masters grand actions to every Romane ear which brought as much joy to Marcellus and the rest of his friends as despight to Livia and the whole faction of Tiberius the Princess Cleopatra who drave a more peculiar Interest in his glory than the rest forgot not to acknowledge her particular satisfaction and to that purpose she answered all his Letters but my memory too weak to retain them I only preserved some of the shortest and especially that which she wrought upon intelligence of his victory I last related I believe the words differed not much from these The Princess Cleopatra to the valiant Juba Coriolanus Prince of Mauritania TO gain great Battels against the Valiantest people in Europe to
force Cities defended by an Army that out-numbered yours and render the nights themselves famous by your victories are actions conformed to my wishes and worthy of your Courage but thus every moment to lavish such precious blood so oft to expose a life so dear unto me to the mercies of danger when necessity does not bind you are actions contrary to your obedience and the care you ought to take of my repose yet I incline to pardon when I remember you combat for my conquest as well as your own glory and that you owe part of those advantages your valour will give of your Rival to the thought that you fight for Cleopatra These clear proofs of Cleopatra's affection swelled my Masters courage to a greater height and daily carried him to the enterprize of braver exploits for which Fortune offered him fair opportunities and the Gods seem'd willing for his glory that our Enemies by the arrival of a great recruit should be once more able to face us in the field and trusting to the number of their men which far exceeded ours they descended into the plain of Gangaris and presented us Battel Coriolanus though much the weaker in number joyfully accepted the Asturians defiance and ranging his Army with a dexterous prudence he marched against the Barbarians not as to a doubtful Combat but a certain victory I remember he was that day covered with a Coat of Steel so exceedingly bright as the splendor of it mingled with the rays of the Jewels that enriched his arms and both received the Sun-beams formed a flame which seemed to environ him besides there appeared another in several flashes at his eyes that darted their fierce glory with such extraordinary ardor as it was even difficult for his friends to behold them without betraying some kind of fear he wore no Casque to cover his face but only a little Morion after the Greek fashion shaded with twenty white feathers under which his visage appeared that whole day naked to the view and his long curled hair which descended upon his shoulders in gross aâ—ulets seemed to borrow brightness from his warlike ardor he was mounted upon a white horse dappled with black spots which at once express'd both pride and beauty and in his right hand held two darts which he brandish'd against his Enemies in a menacing fashion Thus and more fair than I am able to describe him after he had made an harangue to his troops with an Eloquence that few alive could match he lead them on to the Combat and at his first blow in the view of all his Army gave death to Sillo General of the Asturians a man of an extraordinary force and stature who after my Princes example marching at the head of his forces was pierced through and through with one of his Javelins and fell without a soul at his horse feet Coriolanus accompanied that brave Act with a thousand others which in spite of the throng into which he rush'd with a precipitate fury were remark'd by thousands and so couragiously animated his Souldiers both by his voice and Example as after a well disputed Combat victory declared for us and remain'd so entirely ours as more than 35000 Barbarians died upon the place their whole baggage was taken and all those that escaped the fury of our Souldiers scarce found their safety in the wild shelter of the Forests and Mountains This Victory which by the Romans judgment to whom the news was quickly carried might have challenged a comparison with the most memorable of those that helped to establish their Empire gave a great stagger to this War but it was not capable to end it and though it was long before the Barbarians could recover a condition of fighting again yet they had a great number of strong Cities not one of which would render without resistance so that they cost us no less than a whole years time to reduce them during which we had divers Combats upon parties with the Enemies scatter'd Troops which they sent to set upon us on all sides at last we received intelligence that they had made one great effort for all and having drawn all the forces together they could make they were marching towards us for the last decision of their liberty But while my Master thus bravely busied himself in the service of the Roman Empire and besides the purchase of a glory that carried his name to the remotest limits of it with the applause of the People Senate and Emperour flew at a proud height in Cleopatra's favour which he still received confirmed by daily proofs the malice of his fortune would have it that Tiberius should light upon no worse success in Germany than he had in Spain 't is true he had the advantage to command the valianter Legions and deal with Enemies of far less Strength and Courage than ours whatever it was for my Masters Interests cannot bribe me to debate the just value of his Enemies glory he defeated the Pannonians and Dalmatians in two signal battels took five or six of their chief Cities and reduced them to so feeble a condition as wanting those great resources that so often crested the Asturians and Cantabrians they were constrained to beg their peace of Tiberius and receive those conditions it pleased the Conquerour to impose which the cruel disposition of Tiberius ever inflexible to pity or pardon rendred very rigorous and though indeed he did signalize himself in that Expedition by divers pieces of personal valour he was much censured for spilling of blood without a just necessity and breaking the Articles in his Capitulation however in eight months time with great advantage to the Empire he finished that War and returned to Rome covered with Laurels in so pompous an estate as the triumphs of Caesar Pompey and Paulus Emilius did scarce shew more magnificence His actions to mention them without partiality were certainly far short of my Masters as the stories sequel will inform you but the success not less conducing to Caesars service which the Empress with her whole party cry'd up with loud praises and strow'd the Court with such a noise of his atchievements as if all other mens glory ought to suffer an Eclipse when his was mentioned Caesar made him a reception not unworthy of the service he had render'd him nor the place that he held near his person by his mothers authority and the Princess Cleopatra that she might not be constru'd an Enemy to the State by betraying any trouble for his prosperity by advice of those whom her own discreet choice had given Authority over her received him with a smooth brow Tiberius left out nothing in his language or behaviour that might prove a bait for her affection and try'd all the strength of his power with the Empress in disposing her to sway Caesars Judgement on his side Livia as she had formerly done did for a time resist his entreary eagerly desirous to address his aims at the Princess Julia whose
Justice alone that thou art stript of all and exiled wandring without retreat or place of safety but though these miseries are too light for thy crime they witness for me that I have not contributed to them and that I have had no more part in them than I had in those Kingdoms which thou hadst destined and didst offer with thy self to more happy persons Do not reproach me then with evils which I have never been the cause of and which I never so much as wished thee I am contented to accuse thee of ingratitude and unworthiness and to manifest marks of sorrow for thy shameful change which possibly thou hadst not deserved without wishing any greater punishment to thy treason than my forgetfulness and disdain But at last the transported Prince cryed out shall I not know this treason and shall I see my self condemned and condemned by a Judge whom I cannot call unjust without having any knowledge of my crime What replyed the Princess wilt thou still for a conclusion of thy perfidiousness deride her whom thou hast so unworthily abandoned and art thou not ashamed by a base and unprofitable dissimulation to make as if thou wert ignorant of a crime which thou hast manifested thy self to the whole world and which thou hast endeavoured to conceal neither from my knowledge nor from the whole Roman Empire Answered the Prince if it be known to me as without doubt it ought to be if I have so publickly committed it aggravate by your last reproaches which you will heap upon me for it the remorse I ought to feel and if not to inform me of it seeing I am not ignorant yet to convince me before this fair Lady which hears us let us understand from your mouth the treason which I have committed against you Artemisa who heard this dialogue with wonderful attention and suspense and did favour Coriolanus as much out of the esteem and amity which his presence might cause in all those which saw him as for the advantageous relation she had heard made of him a thousand times by her Alexander at this last discourse turning her self towards Cleopatra Sister said she to her this Prince demands so small a matter that if he were yet more criminal than you represent him you could not refuse it him and whether he makes himself ignorant or is so really you will do him but little favour when you shall set before his eyes the offence he hath committed against you Ah Sister replyed Cleopatra though this man little deserves any satisfaction how small soever and though you oblige me to a thing to me painful and unprofitable when you desire that I should inform him of that which he himself hath discovered to the whole world yet I will do it to please you and I would willingly make him blush if it be possible at the last reproaches I owe to his unworthiness The Princess was about to proceed and Coriolanus hearkning to her with all the confidence his innocence could give him expected from the end of this conversation either his death or his justification when she was interrupted by a great noise which obliged the Princesses to arise affrighted from the place where they were Their fear was not without reason and they were hardly got up upon their feet but they saw themselves set upon by ten or twelve horsemen which were in search of them who having left a party of their Companions engaged in Combat against them from whom the Princesses might hope for succour had run over part of the wood to find them out They had no sooner discovered them but that he which marched in the head of them cryed out with joy to his Companions See here they are and with these words having caused them to be environed on all sides he had no sooner cast his eyes a little nearer upon them but that he knew not only Cleopatra whom he fought for but the Princess Artemisa likewise He appeared astonished at this sight and recovering his speech after some moments of silence Ah my friends said he how happy are we to day Behold the Princess Artemisa she must accompany her whom we seek and our fortune will be accomplished He had scarcely uttered these words but four or five of his Companions alighted and whilst those which remained on horseback stopped the passage to hinder the flight of the two Princesses they advanced towards them to take them Coriolanus who since the moment that he had been interrupted had beheld their action without being astonished no sooner saw these enemies approach Cleopatra and Artemisa but he put himself before them and drawing his sword which at that time was all his arms he Presented himself in their defence The number of his enemies and the advantage they had over him of horse and arms was not capable to daunt him but only casting a look upon Cleopatra Madam said he to her this accident hinders my justification but the death I go to suffer for you without regret will possibly justifie me in part He had not ended these few words but that one of these Barbarians had already seized upon the daughter of Anthony but his boldness was fatal to him and the valiant King of the Moors giving him a blow with his sword upon the arm which he had advanced separated it from his body and put him into a condition to do no more outrage to that he loved After this blow with an admirable readiness he fell upon another who held the Princess of Armenia and finding free passage for the point of his sword whither he directed it he thrust into the hilts They which continued on horseback having seen the sudden fall of their companions advanced to revenge them and two amongst them spurring on their horses upon the valiantest Defender of the two Princesses had overthrown him with their shock if he had not been sheltered by a tree against which he threw himself from the foot whereof singling out one of the Barbarians in his passage he reached him with the point of his sword where his Curiasse was defective with so much success that he pierced him to the heart and made the Barbarian fall down dead to the ground From this place Coriolanus by his admirable valour might have defended his life but he heard the cries of the Princesses and seeing them between the arms of divers men he neglected his own safety to run to their defence Mars the God of War himself could not have performed actions like to those of this great Prince and his despair redoubling his forces made him pass amongst the Barbarians for a Daemon of valour or a whirle-wind which mingling it self amongst them with unconceivable fury presented death unto them on all sides where they would assail him O how might then incensed Cleopatra have found in these miraculous actions if she had the liberty of taking notice of them great occasions to be appeased and how well might she have judged that with so
noble a courage infidelity could hardly find a place She was already in the power of one of her enemies when she beheld his throat pierced by the sword of Coriolanus and was all covered with the bloud that he vomited out upon her as he fell at her feet Presently after this action the Prince was violently justled by divers horses at the same time and being near Cleopatra he was overthrown with her upon the grass though as he fell he raised up his arm to hold her The Princess fell upon Coriolanus and her sall fell out well for the Prince's safety who without doubt had perished either by the swords of his enemies or under the feet of the horses if they had not been affraid of killing the Princess with him and if their Commander had not cryed out uncessantly to them to take an especial care of her Cleopatra got up again very readily and Coriolanus making use of his left hand in that action and holding his Sword in his right hand for his defence had still one knee upon the ground when as he feeling himself pressed upon by one of his enemies who went to run his horse over him behind he turned himself half towards him and with the edge of his sword gave the horse a back blow over the nose the horse being hurt stood up on end and his Master pulling the bridle too hard pulled him backward upon himself with so rough a fall that for a long time he was not in a condition to hurt Coriolanus In the very same posture he thrust his sword into the belly of another horse but at the same time he could not hinder himself from being thrown to the ground the second time and one of his enemies on foot whom he took hold of as he fell and drew along with him to the ground falling upon him endeavoured to draw his sword from under him to thrust it into his throat whilst another turning about on horse-back sought some way to kill him without hurting his companion This was that which saved Coriolanus his life the second time and holding him closely embraced who was upon him he took from him all means of doing hurt and covered himself with his body against the sword of his companion He was extreamly weary with the great pains he had taken and under whom he lay was a man of extraordinary size and strength but that did not hinder but that after a long dispute Coriolanus brake his Enemies sword just as he had almost disengaged it from under him and thrust him twice into the body with the Truncheon of it The Barbarian wrung him with the rage of a dying Enemy and Coriolanus thrusting him with a strong arm easily turned him over on the other side After this action he had need of all his diligence to get up and which was on horseback putting towards him when he saw him no longer covered by his companion was likely without doubt to trample him under foot if the Prince as he arose had not presented the point of his sword to the Horses eyes who being afraid of it durst come no neerer though his Master spurred him on When the Prince was quite got up upon his feet the Barbarian which saw him victor over so many Enemies and took him for something more than an humane Creature had not the outrage to expect him but put on his horse at full speed following the tracks of his companions which retired with the Princess they had taken away Coriolanus saw himself then without Enemies but he had no longer the sight of Cleopatra or at least he had but a glimpse of her afar off between the arms of her ravishers and he perceived with unspeakable regret that so many actions of valour that he had lately performed had only served for the safety of his own life and not for the defence of Cleopatra He sighed at it with grief and rage but he did not long amuse himself in complaints and seeing himself by a prodigious felicity escaped from so great a combat without wounds he resolved to pursue after her without expecting any longer succours but because being on foot and without arms he was not in a condition to make any great haste nor give her any great assistance he was minded to put on the arms of one of those he had slain and to accommodate himself with one of the horses which after their Masters death were grazing in the Wood at liberty He went to one of the Barbarians who was of a size little different from his own and despoyling him of his arms he began to arm himself with them with all possible speed He had just done fastning the leathers of his Head-piece and cast his eyes about him to choose amongst three or four horses which he saw without Masters that which was most proper for his design when he saw coming towards him at full speed six horsemen armed Capâ—a pe that way which the Princesses came Their approach did not one jot dismay him and in the grief he then felt all danger whatsoever was uncapable of terrifying him These men after they had beheld the dead bodies and the marks of the combat which he had performed they drew near the Prince and one of them coming forwarder than the rest asked him news of the the two Princes If you are of the company of their ravishers said the Princess unto him finish that which your companions have begun against me and if you seek them to succour them behold the way said he to them pointing towards the Sea-coast which those cruel wretches carry them and whither I am about to follow you In another condition and at other time these men would not have quitted the Prince without longer discourse and without informing themselves more fully of divers things capable to cause their astonishment and their curiosity but the impatience which spurred them on gave them no leisure and he had no sooner shewed them the way that the Princes were carried but that without hearing more they put on their horses upon the track which yet appeared fresh and before that Coriolanus could catch one of the horses that were feeding they were quite got out of sight Being mounted at last upon a strong bodied horse which he believed to be in a condition to do him service away he went with all the speed he could possibly make and followed amongst the trees the track of the Barbarians which carried away with them hishopes and all his life A throng of redoubled sighs proceeded from his breast and imputing his bad fortune sometimes to himself he found himself in a more violent agitation and a thousand times more cruel combat than that he had lately finished He made reflection as much as the swiftness of his course would give him leave to do upon the strange adventure of this day and not know whereat he should be more astonished either the meeting or the loss of Cleopatra he found a double occasion to
that we cannot so far comply with your kindness as to accept of the assistances you proffer us to return into our Territories You may be assured replies the generous Agrippa you shall not want any thing to carry on that design and that you shall when you please be furnished with things requisite for your safe transportation Onely be pleased to repose your self with us for the remainder of this day and on the morrow pursue as you shall think most convenient the resolutions you shall have taken Mean time if it may be done without prejudice to you I would gladly know your names and be informed of your fortune wherein the concernment I take may render such a desire excusable Yet if there be any reason best known to your selves to conceal them I would not you should out of any consideration have that compliance for me and I should be much troubled to press you to a thing were either prejudicial to you or that you might take offence at The two Strangers looked one upon the other at this discourse of Agrippa as it were to consult together what answer they should make him And after a little interval of silence the younger directing his speech to him Were we to speak said he to any other person then the great Agrippa whose generosity is the greatest encouragement to confidence that may be there were haply some reason we should conceal our selves as we have hitherto done as being haply not so despicable where we have a command but that Augustus might repent him he had given us our liberty and therefore have much reason to detain us but such a reservedness stands not with the obligation you have put upon us and the assurance we have of your vertue Upon which account since you so much desire it I shall make no difficulty to tel you that my companion is called Inguiomer a name haply not unknown to you for many actions whereby he hath acquired a noble fame that he is Brother to Clearchus Soveraign Prince of the Cherusci and that I am Son to that Prince Nephew to Inguiomer and my name Arminius At these names of Inguiomer and Arminius Agrippa looking on the two strangers with a certain astonishment What said he to them the same Arminius and Inguiomer the one Son the other Brother to the Prince of the Cherusci Ah! I am now absolutely satisfi'd you are such as I was in a manner by the appearances perswaded you were and though Arminius hath known the world but few years yet have we heard of his name and glorious appearances in military actions as well as of the valour of Inguiomer No doubt but you have hitherto had much reason to conceal your selves from the Romanes to whom the liberty of two such Enemies cannot but be very dangerous but after Caesars word once past you need not fear any thing nay I dare give you my own that though you were known to him he would be so far from doing you any injury that you would find from him all support and assistance as your Brother the young Flavius hath who as you know was brought up among the Romans I doubt not replies Arminius but that through the influence you have over Augustus 's disposition we might hope all civility and good treatment from him But you will be pleased not to take it amiss if we avoid the occasions of being oblig'd to him while the concernments of our Countrey and House tell us we cannot do it without dishonour and that we are desirous to receive all things from your self to whom we shall never be enemies though we may be to those of your party Agrippa thought this answer of Arminius so full of generosity that it heightned his esteem for him and and looking oâ— him more attentively then before This sentiment said he to him is suitable to what I had already observed of your vertue and it will be highly to my satisfaction that you make a distinction between me and those whom the interest of your Countrey may make your enemies I shall answer this particular esteem as I am obliged to do both in reason and out of my own inclination But in the mean time you will give me leave to tell you that with the knowledge of your names I am very much desirous of that of your adventures and that you ought in some measure to recompence the concernment I take therein as not doubting but that it is upon some extraordinary account and not by the common chance of War that you fell into so great a misfortune as that of slavery besides that I imagine to my self I have observ'd in the countenance of Arminius that his thoughts are taken up with something more violent then the love of Liberty and it is particularities of that nature that I have abundance of curiosity which I hope you grant pardonable in a person to whom you have promised your Friendship Upon these words of Agrippa Arminius fastened his eyes once more on the countenance of Inguiomer who perceiving his intention It is but just said he to Agrippa that we give you the satisfaction which you promise your self from an account of the Adventures of Arminius and my concernment therein but in regard my thoughts are much more free from the passions which put his into some disorder and that I am acquainted with the particulars of his life even to the least circumstances nay his most secret reflections it shall be from my mouth that you shall if it be your desire be informed of those traverses of Fortune whereto even before he had overgrown his youth he was exposed and I shall entertain you with the discourse of it when you shall be pleased to command it Agrippa being then at leisure to hear that relation and imagining it might be over before Supper-time would not have it put off to another time But Inguiomer conceiving that Arminius could not be present at that discourse without feeling fresh affaults of grief advised him to walk abroad and Agrippa appointed some of the most eminent of his Officers to wait on him and to shew him the most remarkable places in Alexandria Which done having sent word to the Gate that he was in secret conference with the two Strangers he takes Inguiomer along with him into a Closet whereof locking the door the German Prince not expecting any further intreaty from Agrippa began his discourse in this manner The History of ARMINIUS THough the Countrey which is one day to come under the jurisdiction of Arminius be not of an extent equal to some Monarchies of Europe yet is it not on the other side so inconsiderable but that it may stand in competition with several others of more then common note since it contains a very great part of Gernmany and is inhabited by the most warlike people of all those Nations Arminius may further presume that there are few Princes in the world descended out of a greater series of Soveraigns then himself
whence it came that he stood so much upon his extraction before Augustus I should say more of him did not the same bloud run in my veins as if I thought his modesty would pardon my insisting on those advantages without any necessity You know that during the calamities of Cermany whereof the greatest part by a Fate common to them with so many other Nations hath been reduced under the yoke of the Roman Empire the Cherusci have ever maintained their LIberty with extraordinary constancy and valour and if sometimes they have been forced to submit to the contrary Fortune yet have they at some other by an invincible courage recovered themselves again and have in fine defended their Rights so well that they are at this day in a condition equal to what they were in before the Roman Power was known in Germany It was in those Provinces that Arminius was born among the Cherusci where I also had my birth some seven years before and twenty years after the Prince his Father and my elder Brother Though I am really his Uncle yet is not the difference between our ages so great but that I may say we were in a manner brought up together besides that Arminius having out of a transcendency of courage from his very infancy slighted those employments that are pardonable in such an age grew by degrees more and more ambitious of the conversation of men contracted solid Friendships and perform'd those things which might well become a much more mature age I shall say of him since he is absent that he was born with the greatest and noblest inclinations and such a height of courage as nothing could ever abate Nay that which was most laid to his charge was a natural excess of fierceness and before Love had moderated what seemed somewhat harsh in his disposition he was generally look'd on as one rather hewn out for the Wars then design'd for the enjoyments of a civil life And indeed it was on the War that all his thoughts were bent and amongst those things which he was taught as requisite and commendable in a Prince he was much more desirous tobe well skill'd in the exercises of the body then in the Sciences though it might be said he is not ignorant of the most necessary and particularly what concerns the Languages wherewith he is well furnished but in fine he was much less inclined to read then to ride a Horse or be medling with Arms which gave all those that saw him occasion to conclude that his inclinations were wholly martial He accordingly became Master in those things whereto his affection naturally lead him insomuch that in the fifteenth year of his age it might have been said there was not any man in Germany commanded a Horse with more grace and vigour then he was more expert at the casting of a Dart or better knew the use of all sort of Arms in all kinds of engagements He was also desirous to harden his body by laboriousness accustoming himself to the weight and inconveniences of Armour passing away whole nights and days together on Horseback and slighting those delicacies where-in a Prince of his Rank might have been brought up But I shall say no more of him as to that particular and were he present his modesty would have been much exercised to bear with this discourse His Brother Flavius younger then he by two years had been sent to Rome a Hostage for the performance of a Treaty made between us and the Romans while yet a very child and hath been bred up there ever since so that as it is reported he hath shaken off all the inclinations he might have to his own Countrey to embrace those of the Nation wherein he hath had his education For my part since you expect I should give some account of my self in this discourse I am to tell you that having been brought up by the Prince my Brother and Soveraign with as much tenderness as if I had been his own Son and having in some measure answered his expectations from me as soon as I was arrived to an age fit to bear Arms I went into those parts of Germany where the War was then hottest as Pannonia and Dalmatia where in some engagements of no small consequence I was so fortunate as to gain some repute in our Nation The Cherusci had enjoyed a Peace of some years when their Prince desirous of a fast correspondence with his Neighbour Princes and to enter into a kind of association with them against that Power which had so long attempted our Liberty made an Alliance with Segestes the nearest of them Soveraign Prince of the Ingriones and the Casuares a People lying between the Rhine the Adrana and the mountains of Melibocus a person of very great name and authority in Germany Segestes is a man born with great endowments of abundance of courage constancy to his resolutions and much experience in military affairs but of a violent nature and implacable when once incensed There had been for many years together between him and Clearchus a very intimate Friendship and they thought the surest way to make it indissoluble and eternal and withal to unite their interests against the common enemy was to negotiate a match between young Arminius and Segestes's Daughter of whom there were miracles reported all over Germany though she were two years younger then Arminius Having taken that resolution with a design to execute it when Arminius who was thenbut fifteen years of age were come to greater maturity Clearchus and Segestes were jointly desirous he should be brought up for some years in Segestus's Court the better to accommodate his inclinations to those of the Princess design'd for him and to work in those two young persons that consonancy of affection which the Father 's wish'd in them as an introduction to their future happy Marriage Upon these terms was Arminius sent to Segestes's Court with a retinue suitable to his quality and being my self not long before return'd from the wars of Dalmatia and having contracted a Friendship with him much different from that which ordinarily finds place in persons of his age he desired my company along with him which finding me as willing to grant him he was extreamly satisfi'd thereat We were very nobly receiv'd by Segestes magnificently lodged in his own Palace and Arminius looked on as a Prince of great hopes and designed to marry the Princess But it is now time I give you some particulars of that excellent person since she is the onely cause of all the great Adventures of Arminius And my onely fear is I shall not be able to speak worthily enough of her nor conformably to the passion of Arminius Certain it is that there is no beauty in all Germany that yields not the precedence to that of Ismenia nay that she may find a place among the most eminent in the Universe But the excellencies of her soul are yet much more considerable then those of her