not yet liuing did languish neuer wer men wrapped in more miserie or distressed so vnmeasurably This alas is greeuous ynough that you haue heard but harder was our hap than thus Whilst we stoode rufullye gazing one vppon an other more like to ghosts departed than men liuing our good Generall Menophis a noble Duke and victorious Captain vnder whose fortunate conduct we had diuers times before preuailed in many a hot Encounter being now 〈◊〉 of an vnhappie Embassage froÌ„ India into Cicyona looking as ghost-like as any other and supporting his weake body with a shorte Iauilin pight in the middle of the Hatâ—hes spake to vs as followeth Cap. 18. WEre it so my euermore couragious but now comfortlesse companioÌ„s that we once again were in y e champion fields of India enclosed with the warlike bands of Semiramis though fiue times doubled yet would I put you in hope either to march after them in a second pursuite or at the least to make from them the first escape but alas small is the councel that I am now able to giue yet somwhat the comfort that therby you may gaine but no conquest at al is here to be got knowing that to intreate or threaten the churlish surges were more than Follie. Onely giue me leaue in this my last I say my last and vnaccustomed exhortation to preuaile and then assure your selues that if this aged carcase of mine sufficiently instructed not to feare death to be solde into perpetuall bondage or to suffer death it selfe might be in ought availeable to you I would account such bondage a freedome and such death a flea-biting for how I haue bene am affectioned towards you may well appeare in this that I a Duke by birth and your General by assignmeÌ„t was notwithstanding the first before the meanest here that did want to eate not the last of this company that did feele the famine and yet were you eased of this miserie I should not be impatient of much more sorrowe Listen therefore I say how I your careful Captaine not occasioned nowe as often times heretofore to instruct you how and in what manner you ought to fight am at this time after a far differing sort to admonishe you how and in what manner you are to die It either needes not or bootes not to be offended with Fortune that can be no other then mutable by name and nature neither is Fortune whom it pleaseth the irreligious people to intitle a blinde Goddesse any other in deede then a by-name drawne from the Originals and Euents of our mortall actions but it is the vndoubted gods theÌ„selues whom we haue by some meanes vnaduisedly offended it is they that punish and them must we pacifie as those of whose aide we should neuer dispaire for though persecution procureth a death to the bodie yet a conscience dispairing assureth death to the soule miserable is distresse more miserable distrust but most miserable then to feare when we cannot hope Neuerthelesse let vs not make our case so desperate but that whatsoeuer shall betyde vs life or death we laie hold-fast on patience the onely touch-stone of vertue being pleasure vnto paine comfort to correction wealth vnto want and death vnto death vanquishing altogether with suffring and not with striuing then which is nothing more victorious no not death it selfe for who are those that death conquereth euen such fooles as dreade him and vnto whom the onely remembraunce of death is an horrour such I say as willingly become Ghostes whilst they feare their graues fearing more in sence then they may feele in substance and not thinking their paine will be either not great or not long What shoulde be the cause that men hauing Nature their vndoubted Author Reason their assureâ— Instructor Experience their continuall Perswader should neuertheles or euer death commeth little better then die through the onely feare they conceiue of death vnles doting to much on their wealth which they are loth to leaue or else hoping to little of the mercifull gods who then forgiue an ill life when they find a good ende with whom it shalbe neuer to late too shake haÌ„ds as esteeming whatsoeuer is done wel enough to be done soone ynough Yea the rather my louing companions haue we no cause to dreade death or wish life that are to die at the appointment of the gods and not by the iudgement of men for to the Person worthely condemned death is a double death it being farre more miserable to deserue it then to suffer it and yet though it be in the power of men to iudge men which I also thinke to happen but at sufferance of the gods Nature doth assure death vnto al not graunting to any one his life by pattent but at pleasure and that in such sorte that not the wysest man lyuing can say there then or thus I shall die and yet sure he is that die he shall Seeing therefore my good friendes that death is so certaine as nothing more sure and the order of his comming so vnsure as nothing lesse certaine and that an honest death is the goale of our liues howe happie are we if we could conceiue of our happinesse that shall die with such fauourable opportunitie of repentance well deseruing of our countrie lamented for of our friendes not laughed at of our fooes yea then when life is yrkenot some vnto vs that not on Ieobets as do Malefactors not in Prisons as doe Captiues not in Corners as doe Cowardes not in Quarrels as doe Cutters not in Chaines in our enemies Triumphes neither yet suddenly then which no death is more dreadfull but in a ship which doth argue vs venterous in the Seas not to be subdued by CoÌ„querours in our Prince his affaires as loyall subiectes with famine which confoundeth MoÌ„sters with fame of former prowesse and by prayer which shall reuiue vs. What can we wish more of the gods or what should I say more to you whose deliuerie is not desperat but eueÌ„ to sence vnpossible and vnto whom forlorne Soules death the ende of all wretchednesse ought especialy to be welcome Certes no more remaineth but to intreate you whom henceforth I shall neuer more exhort to be patient without grudging penitent without wauering prepared without dispayring dying to the flesh and lyuing to your soules yea lastly remember I beseech you that we are no sooner borne into the worlde but that wee liue to die from the world therfore ought rather to loue whether we must necessarily then from whence we must of necessitie Thus not able to comfort you as I woulde but willingly to counsell you as I may no more resteth but that I wish the continuance of so grieuous a life to haue deliueraunce by a godly death This said y e noble Duke turneth his face we might perceiue how the teares trilled down his cheeks at sight wherof we that did alwaies reuereÌ„ce him for his Grauity obay him for his Authority loue him for
Timaetes maye nowe preuaile with my tōgue I protest it with my hart I vow it and mine Act shall performe it that his raunsome shal be the resignation of mine whole interest to this my detained kingdome But if none of these any of which might be of sufficiencie neither the Gods that shall punish the tyrannie nor the world that shall speake of thine infamie nor the blood that shall crie for vengeaunce against thee nor thine own guiltie conscience that shall at last accuse thee if none of these I say can worke thy flintie hart to a fleshlye substaunce yet knowe that the Lycians not without the assistaunce of other nations will I am sure vow the last drop of their dearest blood to reuenge such inhumane crueltie yea pittie thine owne people that shall buy his death ouer dearely Cap. 42. WHen thus much was spoken in vaine for Tyraunts are the lesse tractable by how much they are intreated Tymaetes rather dying in the greef of his father then dreading the death wherewithal himself was threatned with much adoe spake as followeth I am deare father inioyned an ouer greeuous pennance that being patiently resolued vpon a simple death doe now also by your impatience liue a dying life whereby my death is rather doubled than deferred but which is more and which is worse must I alas in this extremitie must I hunt for comfortable sayinges to appease your discouraging sorrowes You are not I knowe aduised howe you enuie my good happe because not aduertised how you hinder my sweete hope whiche hope is death and Death the Salue for all sorrowes and the Deliuerer of the immortall Soule from the Prison of this mortall bodie neither is it the ill Death but the well dying wee are to account of for not the stifling Halter of Hempe or sinking pillow of downe doe in any thing help or hinder our passage to Heauen Bee not greeued in that youre Sonne is punished but bee gladde in that hee hath not deserued suche punishmente were I guiltie perhaps my death should disquiet you the lesse when in that I am innocente you ought to bee quieted the more as Nature doeth moue you to lamente the death of your Sonne so let reason learne you the qualitie of your Seede whiche is mortall if because I am young you wishe my life mighte bee prolonged I aunswere in not dying olde my Sorrowes are abridged if you can-not as perhappes you doe not disgest the bloodye Triumphe of your dishonourable Enemie than doe not as no doubte you doe double his Ambition with the bootelesse expence of your ouer humble petitions for thinke not that this Tyraunte who can not lengthen his owne dayes one momente canne of himselfe shorten my date one minute but that the Gods for so I hope readie to accept of my soule haue made him an instrument to separate it from the body Wherefore good Father seeing that death is both necessarie and also ouertaketh vs all of necessitie seeing I auarre the one by triall neyther maye you auoyde the other by trauarse with the reuerente duetie of a Sonne I require it and withoute the partiall affection of a Father I beseeche you to graunt it that youre impatience maye not driue those bloodie teares to my harte whiche not with a desperate minde I speake it this butcherlye penaunce shall neuer drawe from mine eyes More might he not be suffered to speake but his head being stroken from off his shoulders was togeather with his bleeding bodie at commaundement of the Tyraunt cast ouer the walles amongste the sorrowfull Licians to the view of his sowning Father which dead body of Tymaetes was anon solemnlye interred in the accustomed Sepulchers of his Auncestours sometimes Kings of Lydia nere adioyning to Sardis Cap. 43. WYnter was now at hand and the Licians perceauing themselues rather wasted then their enemies weariried prepared therefore to breake vp their Siege intending at the next Spring to haue returned with all the forces they might possibly leuie But in this meane while at Sardis ariued Xenarchus sonne to the Tyraunt and Friend as before to Tymaetes who after intelligence had of Tymaetes his death and Mazeres his Trecherie desirous to be dead with the one and quit with the other he attended from thenceforth opportunitie for both and that so as the Licians themselues before their departure mighte bee ey-witnesses that euen Death had not yet dissolued their friendship and lo how occasion offered it selfe to this enterprise Aphrodite his Sister that shee might there spende her teares where she dared to haue shead her blood had not regarding the daunger of the incamped enemie escaped out of Sardis and amongst the Lydian Sepulchers was espied pitifully to passionate her selfe ouer the Tombe of Tymaetes Now to rescue her out of that place and peril Mazeres that for her loue would haue laboured euen Dis himselfe desired Xenarchus his assistaunce the match was made and only they two alike weponed vnknown to any issue out of the Citie to fetche home as was pretended Aphrodite The selfe same day also had Xenarchus secretly practised the deliuerie of Atys and Abynados out of Prison and through a priuie vault issuing out of the kinges pallace conueied them into the Subburbes who not minding rashly to fall into the handes of the incamped Licians had now hid themselues amongest the aforesaide Sepulchers When Xenarchus and Mazeres drewe neere to this place Xenarchus suddenly betooke him to his weapon to Mazeres demaunding the cause of his so doing he maketh this answere What Mazeres dost thou make a question as ignorāt of a quarrell or thinkest thou to excuse in wordes a treason already executed in workes could thy loue towards my Sister make thee disloyall to my friend and shall not the faith I owed to my friende make thee mine enimie yes Mazeres yes though vntill nowe I haue dissembled my griefe for his death yet this oportunitie hapning I will not longer suspende reuenge for his wrong howbeit so would I be reuēged that neither wish I to be conquerour nor yet would I be conquered onely that we both die of mutuall wounds I desire it and thou doest deserue it I know thy courage is haughtie and my quarrell honest be therefore venterous in this as thou art valiant in all thinges else and condiscente to ioyne in so knight-like a Combate with so indifferent a Combattant who ouercomming or being my selfe ouercommed do assure thee of this comfort that thy selfe art the last man shall see me lyuing the reason hereof if thou seekest a reason is the soule of Xenarchus at once laboureth to salute the ghost of Tymaetes an withall to keepe an Obbit to him with thy life by whose only meanes his death was prosecuted and against whom his blood cryeth vengeance To excuse my selfe replyed Mazeres by loue were to accuse loue of homiside to argue against such your friendship were the rather to agrauate your enmitie and to denie the chalenge were to distrust mine
to vse the benefit of the more fauourable sentence which was banishment yet inchaunted wiser what else did he with y e price of his deadly aduenture theÌ„ buy the emptying of his eyes of restlesse teares and the sundering of his hart with continuall sighes at her handes in her presence whose wilfull coynesse was such that neither woulde shee heare him patiently nor answere him but proudly The yeare was now finished longer theÌ„ which Opheltes was not to make aboade in Lydia when Phaemonoe not brooking the cumbersome haunt of so beggerly a Guest with outragious tearmes flatly forbadde him her house threatning otherwise to procure against him the execution of the king his Sentence wherefore withdrawing him selfe into a solitarie place with bitter tearmes among he complaineth in this maner The time was yea vngratious Cast-away the time was that bearing an hart vndismaied of banishment thou diddest also find hap vnlooked for to recouer thy libertie but I that without crauing in ayde of any could then recouer my selfe from the trecherie of Fortune am not now by the assistance of any Fortune to be rescued from the tyranny of mine owne folly such a god is loue or rather such a diuell is lust that onely is strong to my discomfiture wanteth not force to drawe me euen willingly to distruction but for of thinges before hande done I am priuie of an action already in framing wel may I prenosticate as moisture is insident to water so is mishap an appendant to my destinie yea it is euident I say euident because as heretofore my life so at this instant my death shall affirme my latter Astrologie infallable that the fauourable Aspect of no Planet hath bene quallefying to the luckles Starre of my Natiuity and therefore haue I founde all fortunes preuailing to the drifte of this Catastrophe an ende in deede base and beastly when the matter thereof is Lust the meane a Strumpet and the manner a violenâ—e stopping of myne owne breath But what shouldest thou longer liue Opheltes hauing so good oportunitie to performe the prodigious execution of thy Destinie and by one death to ende infinite sorrowes In saying this and whilest he resolutely hastned to haue strangled himselfe by good happe in came Alcippe who discrying the melancholy pretence of her miserable husbande and seing the dispayre whereinto hee was then falling with vapored eyes offereth this kinde duety to the onely Seeds-man of all her sorrowes saying Cap. 50. JT is qd shee contrarie to man-hood euen in extremyties of euils not to bee constant but wilfully peeuish and peruerse is hee that forgoeth comfort whilest hee forsaketh counsell although the man bee tearmed foole-hardie that dareth to followe the aduyse of a woman yet beleeue mee Opheltes as it is not incredyble but that a Mouse may gnawe a Lion out of a ginne so is it not impossible but that I may at the least giue intermission to thy griefe Long did I practise thy cure but therein performe no other then myne owne care in preferring thy bootelesse loue to mercylesse Phaemonoe but I nowe finde and I woulde thou couldest also feele that longer to bleede of that vaine is to leaue thy body bloodlesse thy heade witlesse and thy friendes hopelesse of thy recouery what meanest thou Opheltes to straine out a gnat and to swallow vp a Cammell tearming her vnreasonable in hating thee so deadly that loueth her so dearly and not espying thy owne greater madnesse in louing her so dearly that hateth thee so deadly It might haue suffised for a rebuke once to haue intermedled with a Curtizan and for a reproach great enough that so badde a woman shoulde blushe at thy companie without thus dying a Reprobate by still dooting in thy passed and purposed wickednesse leaue of therefore if not not for shame yet to auoyde sinne and knowe that then are the gods seuere in correcting when men are secure in offending yea if for nothing else yet therefore shoulde Opheltes bee weaned from lewdnesse because Phaemonoe is wedded to lightnesse thou wert not her first choyce neyther shalt thou bee her last change for the loue of an harlot is not so tyed to any one but that the same lyeth open to euerie one Beggers and Banished-men by prouiso excepted and thou being in the same predicamente art therefore vnder the same Exception concluded wherfore it is meere follie in thee to looke for other of custome or to hope for better of curtesie But whylest our wordes be not plausible our counsels seeme not profitable and with strong reasons to resist loue were perhaps to labour my selfe mad with reason For such loue if I may so mis-tearme lust as it is easlier receiued so is it hardlier disgested then the Taint Borestes that swallowed a Myte swelleth a Monster if therefore Opheltes thou wilt not be declaimed froÌ„ Phaemonoe it resteth then y e Phaemonoe bee reclaimed to thee which to contriue asketh cost for kindly it is for such Hawkes to soare from an empty Fist but Opheltes lacketh will you say and is therefore helples but Alcippe lyueth do I say therefore not hopelesse she liueth in deede to profit thee with a triple benefit to restoore to thee thy liberty to recouer for thee the moity of thy liuing to which only Rise is Phaemonoe in sequens Admit therefore Alcippe to stand thee in this steede whose patience I know is so liable to thy passions that to worke thee a second delight she will indure be it a seconde deuorse At the naming of Alcippe did Opheltes sigh and turning his face letteth fall plenty of teares making at the leÌ„gth vnto her whom not yet he knew to be Alcippe such answere The tydinges saith he are most ioyfull to Opheltes that Alcippe is yet lyuing but â—eeing it is currant in ech mans mouth and also confirmed in mine owne mind that my falshood towards her doth rather merit a most shamefull death then the acceptance of such vndeserued assistance I am much more prone to â—atefie the first doome by myne owne handes then apte to receiue the latter grace by her helpe wherefore I beseech thee to declare to Alcippe that dying I wish vnto her all good fortune whoÌ„ only I haue made altogether infortunat but know that thy counsell as touching Phaemonoe is like to an after-showre that falleth when flowres and rootes are alreadie wythered I am determyned to die and my detâ—rmynation shall not bee chaunged for why to liue vnexiled and wealthely shoulde bee much lesse pleasinge to men then to die from inwarde vexation and outwarde infamie Onely bee assured gratious Damsell that I account this the last and not the least of my miseries not to bee able to recompence thee for thy passed and present kindnesse for the which the heauens graunt thee what I besides thankes haue not to giue thee Cap. 42. ALcippe not a little discouraged at this wilfull aunswere of his as her last refuge made her selfe knowne to her husbande whom with
meritorious and though it be glorious to ouercome by battell yet is it more glorious to be ouercome by pittie For alas shall men whom nature hath endued with reason and vnited in originall amitie by occasion of any corrupt accident continue more malitious than vnreasonable or sencelesse creatures Doth not the Plantane profit the toade in disburdening her of the superfluitie of poyson and the same neuerthelesse stand vs in steede to many good purposes or doth it derogate any thing from vertue if by our industrie wee better the vitious or shall wee cut of those limbes that are now sound because the same were once sore Well if remembring what we haue bene you wil not conceaue what we would be if our humble submission be thought an insufficient reconciliation if you feare vs that haue neither will nor power to harme you if you wil not which is the summe of our sute deliuer vs from hence that of our own accord are falne into your handes if I say it be your pleasures that we shall not weepe for vnexpected kindnesse whom you shall not enforce to dread for any practised torments then assure your selues you cannot be more tirannous then we patient and our death shall be more dishonourable to you then our graues discontenting to vs. The only thing we craue is to be conuaied out of this Iland a small petition and easily performed the poizinesse of twaine will not be burdenous to your barke and the hyer for our passage shall lighten your hartes But to what purpose should I vse more speeches if you bee mercifull enough is sayd if mercilesse much more wil not serue Cap. 3. HOw rufully these wordes were vttered by the miseble Meade and how effectually the same wrought in the hartes of the Assirians the passioned gestures of the one did testifie and the pittifull regards of the other witnesse Let it suffice that the sillie soules were pitied their pensiuenesse comforted their bodies appareled al former enmitie pardoned and libertie promised But see what an euill euent followed so good an hansel In the night before the Assirians should depart Sorares calling diuers the cheefe of his soldiors to suppe with him in his cabben enuited amongst the rest the two Meades and after supper ended he intreated the miserable Duke to declare by what mishap they chanced into that harborlesse Iland wherevpon Arbaces proceeded in this maner Albeit good Sorares and you the rest of our benefactors the remembraunce of our passed sorrowes will bee little lesse then a present death to our spirits the whiche without anguish we cannot rehearse nor you without pittie heare yet shall you not find vs daintie to aunswere your request whom we haue found so forward to yield vs releefe Aboue two hundred yeares of mine age are alreadie passed a short time if not lengthened out with continuall sorrowes the roote therof chiefly springing from Assiria and yet good Sorares thinke not that hauing cause to curse your countriemen that banished vs into this Iland that therfore we will cease our prayers for you by whom our deliuerie is promised seeing why wee should malice you we can render no reason but why we should honour you we haue good occasion The purportie of this my speeche is to be construed to this purpose that as we are not to accuse you for our receaued iniuries at the handes of your predicessors so is it not necessarie that in malice you become their successors for if we shall make their olde controuersies our newe quarrels it will followe that first the worlde and all thinges shall cease to be before strife and discorde shall cease to grow But hitherto I haue bene rather tedious to your eares then aunswering to your demaundes yet pardon my beginning and with patience carrie an ende It is a worlde to note the wondrous alteration of all thinges euen of late dayes for omitting to speake of the time before the generall deluge I will onely glaunce at the superfluitie of this our present age It hath bene yea within the time of my rememberaunce that men thought themselues more sure in their wilde Caues then now safe in their walled Castles better contēting themselues with the vnforced fruitfulnesse of the earth then now satisfied with their fruitlesse compounds enforced by art the simplicitie of nature prescribed vnto them an absolute law but ouermuch curiositie now subuerteth both law and nature What speake I of part when it is manifest that no sooner golde and siluer the Ambassadors from hell had insinuated themselues into the hartes of men but that a generall subuertion was made of all Nemroth then taking vpon him an vnknowne title not euer heard of before in all the world much lesse in Caldia became a king in Babilon who by suttletie hauing wone the harts of the vnpollitick people by that meanes got them vnder the yoke of seruitude Nemroth being dead his sonne Belus hunting after greater superioritie than was by his father newly exacted pretended by warres to dilate his dominions whose dreadfull purpose being by death made frustrate his sonne Ninus your late Emperor and our then persecutor did execute Making his new inuention of warre battell not only terrible to those that did taste it but horrible to vs whiche as yet did not feele it After a while it came to passe that we who hetherto did only heare much mischiefe of warre reported did now suffer the effects of that which of long time we feared for Ninus landing an armie of soldiours in Media obtayned an easie victorie against vs bad warriours and in respect of holdes armour and artilerie a people vtterlye naked Ninus being thus conqueror we conquered our king Farnus his wife and vii children murdered cōtinual likelihoods of an vniuersal slaughter still appearing the desolation of the whole countrey being generally expected for diuers Nobles of Media and others not of the basest calling to the nūber of 100 vpwards of y t which nūber the whole number now liuing we two are hauing conuayed into a shippe the gold and cheefest treasure of our slaughtered king and rather trusting to the incertaintie of the seas then to the inhumanitie of the Assirian soldiors in an vnluckie hower hoisted vp our sailes leauing with teares our wasted countrey as men compelled to search after some new habitation The seas we passed were numberlesse the sorrowes we suffred were greeuous the daungers we escaped were perilous how farre we had sayled we account not howe farre we should saile we knew not where to ariue wee were ignoraunt and all places if farre enough from the Assirians seemed to vs indifferent In the end being no lesse vnfortunate in our seafaring then vnexpert in the new art of nauigation seing our vittels to waste our vessel to leake and our tackling to faile such was then our comfortlesse dispaire that hauing no hope at all to escape the threatning waues it did only forthinke vs that we forsooke our natural graues in our
countrie and parents in whom and by whom they haue bene bread and fostered their wife and children vnto whom they are by law and nature vnited their friendes and kinsfolke at whose handes they are to receiue counsell and comfort and in straung countries to consume that their liuelihood and substaunce which them selues lyuing might with ioye possesse and deade their posteritie shoulde by law inherit Being onely caried away with a fonde desire to vew vnknowen nations and curious monumentes setting forwardes in iollytie but sayling forth in ieoperdie launching out in their ruffes but hayling in in their ragges yea they are ignoraunt that when after this order they fraught the ship with their wealthe they vnballace their heades of wit exchanging their warme gownes for colde iackes their softe pillowes for harde couches their sweete chambers for stinking cabbens their braue walkes for the bleake hatches their sweete wine for stale water and their fine dainties for grosse diets if sicknesse falleth which seldome fayleth Phisitions loue not the seas and therefore phisicke not to be founde in shippes as for Chyrurgions their skill is in woundes but not in vrines so that the poore patient hath perhaps leaue to liue as longe as he may and no man letteth him to die as soone as he will where sometimes he findeth this friendshippe that to ridde him of languour in steade of aqua vitae they minister aquam marinam toplinge him ouer shipboorde some life yet remaining and then as the sea is his sepulchre so perchaunce a Rascals purse is his treasurie Neither doth so happie an ende as this happen to all for sometimes the ship runneth a ground and then both ship and man perisheth sometimes it lighteth on a rorke then speede they no better sometimes they are boorded by Pyrates and then it hapneth them worser sometimes through long tempest victuals consume and they famish sometimes a storme driueth them perforce vppon the costes of their enemies who either make them bondslaues or which is rather to be wished dispatch them with tormentes sometimes are they cast ashoare either in desertes where wilde beastes deuoure them or else among such people as make foode of their carcases sometimes the meeting byllowes doe cleane ouerwhelme them sometimes the following waues doe quite ouerturne them and euermore a thinne boorde onely is betwixt them and perishing so that what with these and many such lamentable accidents are they continually endaungered the feare much more tormenting then the death it selfe would be grieuous And yet forsoth all these notwithstanding some in a brauerie must saile vnto Mymphis there to vewe the Piramides some vnto Babilon to see the walles of Semiramis some vnto Caria to gaze on Mansolus his tombe some vnto Ephesus to beholde the temple of Diana some vnto the islle Pharos to suruay the tower Pharos some vnto Olympia to looke one the yuorie image of Iupiter some vnto Rhodes to prie on the monsterous stature of Phoebus some into one countrie and some into an other and all in the ende returning if euer they returne more bitten with their expences then bettered by their experience ouermaistred by straunge manners that could not be maisters of their owne affections For as they wilfully leaue their friendes and Countrie so which often hapneth vnwittingly they forsake their gods and religion if in Assiria they adored Adad and Adargatin in Babilon Belus and in Caldia Ori masdâ— the same must worship in Aegypt Osyris and Isis in Persia Mithra in Ausonia Faunus in Mesopotamia or Hebron a god called Iehoua and as in these so amongst ech sundrie people must a peculier god be adored so that let them account of the rest to be but toyes and trifles yet this cannot be but a chooke-bone and scruple to their consciences And as after this manner their religion is altered so in like sort their manners proue alienated being inforced or rather easily intysed to applie their behauiour according to the seuerall places of their present aboade in Persia to reuell in brauerie else no man for their companie in Scythia to liue ouer begerly else to proude for their societie in Arabia to followe Venerie else excluded their familiaritie to be short in Parthia they must vomit with drinking in Thratia liue by filchinge in Lydia practise gaming in Sibaria sleepe and idlenes in Caspia crueltie and dissembling c. Neither is it an easie matter to pacifie their natiue gods to such an extraordinarie care when it chaunceth whose worshipping they haue thus estraunged or to leaue those vyces which with such facilitie they haue learned but rather it is to be doubted that by the first they shall bee vnwillinglie cast behinde whilest by the latter they are willingly ouertaken for vanitie which is sought for so eagerly is not shaken off so easilie verâ—ue seeming painefull and therefore reiected euen in the bloome but vice pleasant and therefore affected euen in the fruit Neither are these all the euils that growe by such trauels for whereas this vnaduised Uenteâ—or did trafique abroade by way of exchange he retayleth at home for reddie coine naie of a ChapmaÌ„ he becommeth a Marchaunt and in his owne countrie vseth outlandish vtterance there to make returne of his far-fetched vices And as one rotteÌ„ sheepe infecteth be it neuer so great a flocke so one new-fangled Traueler impoisoneth be it neuer so many folke and therefore it followeth that such traueling is harmefull to the Traueler him selfe hurtful to others and Cap. 15. ANd qd the maister intercepting his wordes wee haue enough and to much of your ands and yfs vnlesse marshalled after a better order why howe nowe Belopares so was his name hast thou thy selfe confessed that the gallie saued thee from the gallowes and yet wilt thou deliuer so badly of sea-farers art thou a sayler and yet of saylers a scorner and doe the seas bring thee thy liuing and the same also breede thy misliking trust me hadst thou hidden thy base petigree yet shoulde we haue conceiued in our mindes what wee had not receiued in our eares thy grosse error is much but thine vnseemely termes more then thine errror Thou oughtest Bellopares to obserue that as men are borne vnder diuerse plannets so are they of diuerse dispositions not all ywis tender harted Venerians nor slowbacked Saturnists but some are valiant minded Iouialists others wise imprising Mercurialists c. who with their vallour can make ech climate their conÌ„trie or with their wisedom shift warely in euerie companie or else if y e worse fall conquer crosse fortune with Magnanimitie Thou sayest they leaue great felicitie at home and commit them selues to much miserie abroade reckoning that for a folly which in deede is a rare vertue for what greater vertue then to dispise inchaunting pleasures I meane pompe and riches the nurses of sensualitie which be either got by wrong spent by ryot kept with care consumed by enuie or lost by casualties so y t if comparison should be made I might
others no no I may profit you but not preiudice my selfe Let it suffice that I haue corrected your Fooes and that your selfe escape vnreuenged of our auntient emnitie ouer and besides which vndeserued friendship I giue you a Ship in all thinges well furnished with sufficient treasure to supplie your expenses and thus knowing my minde the sooner you be packing the safer may it be for your person as for Cilciâ—a I haue Xenarchus my sonne there to gouerne here in Lidia want not souldiours to engarison Unto whom in few wordes my Father thus replyed that iustly condemning his pretence and despysing his proffers it lastly rested that Fortune his foe might one daie crie quittance with falshoode his friende and so onely accompanied of three or foure oâ— his faithfull seruants as doubting the worst fled secretly into the before meÌ„tioned Forrest not knowing the same to be the Receptacle of Deipyrus much lesse of his missed wife and childreÌ„ but least of all that the same his traiterous Nephewe did in such sort minister to their necessities Cap. 32. WIthin this Forrest in a pleasant Glade the sheepeherdes to take Wolues and other rauening beastes haunting their Flockes had digged a verie deepe daungerous Pit laying boughes slightly ouer-twhartes and artificially couering the same ouer with greene Turâ—es so that the subtilitie thereof might hardly be espyed into which Pit Deipyrus ranging abroade to seeke after sustenance for him selfe and his charge at vnwares slipped and seeing no possibilitie of deliuerance from thence complaineth after this manner Sower is that sweete which decaieth in the blossome but sweete is that sower that dyeth in the budde ah happie man Deipyrus that being forworne with Correction hast at the length weryed Fortune with correcting and shalt anon present death with the glad deliuerie of thy ioylesse life and that not suddenly amongest the impenitent Pikes but slowlier then thou wouldest amiddest this Pitte wherein appeareth the great mercie of the good gods in respect of the small merits of sinnefull men O that the secrete bowels of the earth that denieth not to burie me as no doubt the vpper face thereof disdayneth to beare me coulde aswell conceale my vile faults as it doth couer my vitious flesh then shoulde my Treasons which now seeme odious to the heauens infamous to the world hurtefull to many daungerous to the most detestable to all and burdinous to mine owne conscience then I say might such mine offences suâ—cease to suruiue deceased Deipyrus which alas will then be hardly ripe when I shalbe happely rotten Neuerthelesse I am not nowe to dreade the worst of mercylesse men that slowly forget but to hope the best of the mercifull gods that swiftly forgiue nowe am I to sitte vppon my selfe as Iudge and against my selfe to pronounce iudgment that the Gods seeing me impartiall in mine owne case may as no doubt they will spare me for the same cause for it more standeth vs vppon to confesse then to defende our follies It is alas a common imperfection to offende but an vnwonted perfection to repent and why the first springeth from Nature but the other from vertue yea Nature whereunto we easily incline is in effect Securitie to Sinne feare of worldly shame biddeth vs iustifie our selues when in deede to liue in Securitie is not to die in safetie for meete it is that y e honny which seemed pleasant in the mouth be coÌ„uerted to bitter wormewood in the stomacke and vtterly abhorred of the soule Doth not the pleasantnesse of the fruite make amends for the bitternesse of the roote the hoped for ioy in the harbour moderate the suffered perils on the Seas and the will to be released of the maladie asswage the sharpnesse of the medicine and shall not I that grone with Repentance in mine heart hope thereby to gaine refreshment to my soule yes verely yes so to hope winneth an effectuall hire that we be Contrite it is necessarie that our Contrition be equiparent to our TransgressioÌ„s more necessarie but if the qualitie of our Repentance exceedeth the quantitie of our offences then is the same most acceptable But wretches that we are flesh and blood perswade the contrarie saying we scarce trip when in deede wee stumble downe right that the crime is verie light when the same is most weightie that we shall liue long and may at leasure repent when in a moment we are taken away or euer we thinke to amend and so in the end perrish desperatly that persist diuelishly for as therefore the gods are greatly delighted with Repentance so are they greeuously displeased with Procrastination It only remaineth then that I imbrace thee O sweete Repentance a burthen so much the lesse ponderous by how much thou increasest in greatnes to the pricked conscience thou art the perfit consolation and the only counterchaunge to deserued confusion with thy feete onely we run to mercy without thy winges flie we not from vengeance thou I say doest reprehend mine errors therefore will I apprehende thy vertues neuer giuing thee ouer vntill by death at least I comprehend thy sweetenesse Whilest Deipyrus most desirous to haue died spake yet more in the darke pit one while remembring the distresse of his guidelesse Charge left at randon in the dangerous Forrest and often naming whome he made account neuer more to see his deare Eurimone the king of Licia his daughter whose loue was the greatest part of his interprised lewdnesse but neuer forgetting with a penitent heart and bitter teares to send forth his humble prayers as his soules Harbengers It chaunced my Father and his Company to wander along the same Glaede and not doubting at all the subtilitie of the place one of them fell hedlong into the same couered Pit lighting so boisterously vpon Deipyrus that he bore him downe to the earth in a sowne the other only astonished with the fall and not receiuing farther harme after a while feeling but not seeing the panting body of a man lying prostrate wrought such meanes that he recouered Deipyrus out of his traunce By which time my Father and the others aboue had letten downe wythes and other deuises which they had framed for the purpose so drawing vp the man that was newly fallen into the pit who not a little ioyfull of so speedie deliuerie aduertised them how there was yet remaining behind an other person to him vnknown Wherevpon letting downe the second time they drewe Deipyrus vp into the open ayre that wel-nere of a day and night before had scarcely discerned any light of the sunne or starres Cap. 33. BUt when the king my father beheld the plight of Deipyrus and the same perceiued the presence of my Father it was a world to note the alteration of either their Countinances Espetially Deipyrus consumed with the pensiuenesse of his hart infeebled through weakenesse of body and confounded in the guiltinesse of his owne Conscience had better cause often to chaunge his colour then as it hapned to dread
owne manhoode so that in excusing I should accuse as I will not in perswading I should not disswade as I woulde and in agreeing to you I should disagree with you as I must but alas my Lord aduise your selfe better and deale not so outragiously with him that friendly not fearefully beseecheth you of pacience for if the losse of my life might reuiue Tymaetes or pleasure you Tymaetes should liue and you be pleased mine owne handes should hasten it your weapon not hasard it But seeing it may not so bee or if my submissiue wordes may not preuent your vnintreatable furie then know Xenarchus that Mazeres is a Knight no Coward but were I a Cowarde yet Cowardes in like extremities be desperatly valiant and being inforced to fight naturally will rather kill then be killed when if it should so proue as in fight the victorie is vncertaine that by euill hap you perrish one my weapon then alas howsoeuer it pleaseth you to flout me or feare me with the promised comfort of your death wherin I should conceiue nothing lesse then comfort whereof againe and againe I intreate you not to inforce the occasion you may assure your selfe of this comfort from me that your deade bones shall more persecute me then your lyuing body can punish me the one I may not flie the other I doe not feare the reason is if you demaund a reason if my death be not the prise of your blood yet must I of necessitie forsake Lydia the which to leaue were intollerable so forgo Aphrodite whom not to loue is impossible Now when Xenarchus would admit no excuses others then by Combate to discide the discorde the two knights so valiantly giue the charge ech on the other that whilst both strike both seeme rather to shrinke with the blowes then to shun the weapons either of them shewed enough of courage neither of them were to seeke of cunning and fret more with scorne to be wounded then feele the smart of their woundes In few after many breathings Xenarchus disaduauntaging himselfe by his ouer fearce desperat fight receiued a wound whereof fainting he falleth to the earth and then perswading himselfe of no other hope then present death he charitably forgaue wofull wounded Mazeres the deede constantly imbracing him indeuouring all in vaine to giue succour desired to be conueied vnto Tymaetes his Tombe there to offer vp his last gaspe a sacrifice to his friends ghost in performance of which his request Mazeres shewed himselfe no lesse dutifull then dolefull Cap. 44. WHilst perplexed Aphrodite discheuiled as shee was washed her Louers Tombe with her lamentable teares bewayling his vntimely destinie and esteeming the date of hir owne life ouer dilatorie lifting vp her flowing eyes she espyed Mazeres supporting thetherwards the imbrued body of her dying brother at sight whereof when wepings gaue passage to wordes shee thus cryeth out Now woe and out alas woe is me forspoken Aphrodite how hapneth it my deare brother that I viewe thee a second buriall and what see I more doest thou Mazeres mischieuous Mazeres by a new murder adde to my liuing martirdom if thou I say if thou the tormentor of me and Traitor to mine either in respect of y e loue thou pretendest to owe me or in reueng of the hate I protest euer to beare thee wilt shew me pity by being pitiles for somuch as the gods seeme deaffe and not to heare me and the destinies dull and not to helpe me vse once more thy murtherous weapon to dispatch me of life that otherwise may neuer be eased of griefe oh how aptly in one Tombe maist thou bestow three murthers leaue not alas leaue not haplesse Aphrodite so vtterly helpeles that also present death be exempted her succour As Xenarchus for yet he liued with fainting tounge endeuoured to pacifie his sister and acquite his inforsed foe Mazeres of his selfe procured death Atys and Abynados hyding them selues as before amongest the sepulchers and hearing those well known names lamentable tearmes and the voice of out-crying Aphrodite partly to assist her vnto whom they supposed Mazeres to offer force partly to reuenge the death of the curtious knight Tymaetes and withall to be meete with Mazeres for their owne priuate quarrels as not a little affrighthed at the noise ran forth to see what had hapned But when they perceiued their late deliuerer Xenarchus to lie there aliue more then halfe deade and by him standing their late betraier Mazeres smoaking in bloode without any further words they fearsly ran vpon twise-wounded Mazeres plying him with woundes to whome it wel pleased to dy who also being thus spead of his deaths wound aiming with his dying eyes to gasping Xenarchus did with him yeald vp the ghost either in the bosom of the other This new occurrant gaue to Aphrodite fresh occasion thus to continue her former lamentations in these words What doest thou yet liue Aphrodite long since the beginner and not yet the ender or at the least wise the fourth actor in this vnfinished Tragedie O my deare brother Xenarchus and which art more deerer to mee then a brother my sweete Tymetes content your selues yea a verie little while be contented with these wasted teares the whole remaine that continuall weepings haue left me with these cold comfortles kisses the last that euer Aphrodite shal giue you Neither thinke thou Mazeres that I deeme thee vtterly vnworthy my weping that which hath vndone vs all diddest esteeme me altogether worthy thy woing I cannot but lament thee deade that lyuing could neuer loue thee Which saide bestowing two kisses on the two Corses and two hundred on the watered Marbell that inclosed Tymaetes she forthwith entred the Lician campe and carelesse of her own safety rushing into the Pauilion of y e two kinges her fathers enimies when they rather gased on her beautie then gessed of her businesse shee disclosed her selfe and as much as in her lay stirreth them vppe â—o reuenge vppon her Tymaetes his death for whose onely loue hee had forgone life Aprodite saith shee is as deare to her Father as was Tymaetes to his and therefore the reuenge though it be smale yet it is somewhat In the meane time whilst she yet spake in came Atys and Abynados reporting the pittifull spectacle then to be seene at the Tombe of Tymaetes to the view whereof the Kinges and Captaines hyed and after them Aprodite followed But she perceiuing the gratious father of Tymaetes to be so farre off from seeking such reuenge for the death of his Sonne that he did not onely bewaile bitterly the deade bodies of Xenarchus and Mazares but spake to her so comfortably as if shee had bene his owne daughter being now the rather ouercome with the surcharge of this kinde sorrowe standing a while speechlesse and anon sinking downe vppon the deade bodies did good Ladie without any violente acte finishe her life not vnlamented for euen of her Fathers enimies The nexte
vntill you haue mingled their blood with the bowels of the others their Explorors otherwise it will come to passe and that before you looke for it but not sooner than I experienced of their treacheries feare it that these Rouers and Robbers of y e whole world being by their tyrannous countrimen alreadie perchaunce at point of their ariuall rescued out of our hands shal stand them in no small steed to the cutting of your throates and the conquest of this our Iland Haue you forgot how yester-day euen the sentence of death could not pluck down the courage of their Companions and why forsooth reason had they to hope that expected this helpe and marke you not also howe the carelesse countinaunces of these our Thrals doe not so muche argue a contempt of death as the like hope that their armed Confederates are already marching to their rescue once againe therefore I say let your hast in putting them to death cut off their hope in purposing vpon life of lyfe sayd I yea and hauing made a massacre of your liues and pray of your Countrie to suruiue you in the one and succeede you in the other To Atys Abynados and to the rest this her Sentence seemed no more seuere then to be charged of Confederacie with before executed Assirians strange but therin to haue bene guiltie or not guiltie was all one it suffising to Dircilla her wrath and their deaths onely that they were Assirians vnto whiche people the occasion why hereafter following she had vowed her selfe a deadly enemie Cap. 53. WHilst she was yet speaking diuers of the Ilanders as purposing a generall slaughter in great fury ran to a Caue not far of and anon return rigorously driuing before theÌ„ certain Assirians whom the day before they had taken forraging in the Iland and of whose deaths Dircilla their Gouernesse had before giuen them in commaundement But the Ilanders being naturally pittiful altogeather vnacquainted with sheading of blood and dwelling as it were in a world by themselues had neuer till then seene Shippe or Straunger and therefore had not the fierce words and wrath of Dircilla more preuailed then the inhumanitie or malice of those harmelesse people the Asserians had not only not bene assailed and captiuated but also such admiration rid their beauty and brauery strike in to the harts of the idolatrous Ilanders that eyther they had easily beleeued them to be Gods or at the least-wise durst not haue made proofe of their manhoods But Dircilla commaunding whose wordes to them were as Oracles they feared not to enterprise were it neuer so rare or great an Aduenture only herein as moued with compassion they had borrowed of their vsuall obedience in that they had not according to her commaundement the day before done execution vpon those firste-ariued Assirians Wherfore Dircilla contrary to her thought seeing them yet liuing whose death she had commaunded one while firing her froward eies vpon the miserable Captiues and anone casting her frouning lookes vppon the Ilanders after she had with sharp reprehentions reâ—uked them of disobedience and reproued them of foolish pitie that her wordes had now made them altogether as pittilesse as her owne purpose was cruel she caused both the first and last company of the Assirians to assend the toppe of a steepe Rocke from whence to be floung downe headlong was the death wherevnto they were all adiudged by this angrie Virago Great was the generall lamentation that the Assirians then made and no lesse the admiration that either companie had of this their heauie and vnexpected meeting and that amongst so barbarous a people howbeit of all this time on neither part was any acquaintance takeÌ„ for they all seemed straungers one to another But anon as the friend imbraceth his friend and ech man encourageth his fellow with patience and constancie to leaue his life and as Atys and Abynados plie them now to one place then to an other still with godly exhortations strengthening the â—â—â—â—ting courages of some their fearefull Countriemen amoÌ„gst the first-ariued Assirians they espied Sorares their father But alas the maner of this their dismal meting was so much the more lamentable by howe much more the same might haue bene ioyfull had they not bene crossed by this misfortune there might one see y e Sonnes to want all tokens of gladnesse in saluting their Father and the Father furnished with all signes of heauinesse in intertaining his Sonnes and the skilfullest Painter in making a seuerall Counterfeit to euery sorrowfull countinaunce either should haue ben grounded in varietie or else haue painted more then one AgameÌ„non vnder a vale â—emonâ—â— the death of Iphigenia Yea so pitifull were the confuâ—ed Cries this doleful Spectacle euen to the IlaÌ„ders themselues that moued with compassion they made no hast at all to do execution as was the seuere commaundement of their Gouernesse But Dircilla only constant in her crueltie the rather when she perceaued the ministers of her wrath thus suddenlye enclined to mercy being set in a double chaufe did single out from either company of the Assirians two of the most aged persons and then hardly with-holding her Fist from their faces and her Lawnce froÌ„ the bosoms of her own people vsed these following speeches Cap. 54. HOw farre off foolish and vngratefull people I am euen from any tirannous thoughte whereof it seemeth you haue me in ielosie the self-witnesse of these two auncient murderers may happily fit me with a sufficient purgation for as I perswade my selfe that al Assirians generally are fleshed with blood so I easily coniecture that these two in respect of their yeres should be parties or at the least wise priuie to those murthers whereof I shall now speake yea although a godlesse life hath commonly a gracelesse ende yet it may be that these olde Houâ—â—sides whom if you shall spare a natural death will shortly dispatche will at the last penitentlye confesse what at the least I perticularly expresse But if it fall out againste my guesse yet either shal I make the very name of an Assirian odious in your eares or by reporting my iust quarrell proue my self guiltlesse of tiranny Omitting therefore to be curious as touching the trecherous ariual of y e Assirian Armies into Media my natiue countrie vnder conduct of their butcherous Emperor Ninus it shall suffise that my weeping eyes somwhat easing my hart shal anon licence my toung in few to touch with what bestial cruelty they ordered their bloody Conquest These mine 〈◊〉 â—ehelde the roiall Pauilion of king Farnus my Father consumed with fire which way soeuer I looked the countrey abrode was al a flame here mighte I see an heape of Meades newly slaughtered there the Assirians to perseuer in sleying this Uillain murthereth a Matron ouer the dead body of her sonne or husband y t Ruffen haileth by her faire heare some noble Uirgin to rauishmeÌ„t death or captiuity one sundereth the impotent olde-man in sporte an other
the end to such familiaritie as neyther Companye doubted at their own pleasures friendly to boorde and reboorde eche others and whilste the rest feast merely and are tyed to the Canne by the teeth Atys made a long and lamentable report to Tymaetes the Lycian Captaine for the strange Ship was of Licia of the misse or rather losse of Sorares and his companie saying thus hath Fortune assailed the Father and now assauteth the Children triumphing his on Bale and threatning our Blisse And no maruell answered Tymaetes considering that Fortune is only constant in inconstancie and as touching Blisse it may be your opinion is hereticall for that true Blisse in deede performeth a perpetuitie whereas the flattering pleasures of this world cannot promise one howers certaintie and therefore it may not be aptly termed Blisse whereof a chaunge is to bee doubted and yet to attaine or rather to attempt the sweetenesse of a cleare conscience to exercise Uirtue to combate with our Affections to eschew euill and doe good to loue all and hate none and to liue in the world as not of the world are no doubt great arguments of blessednesse but no full assurances of Blisse for that none may be sayd blessed vntill his last gaspe hath dissolued him from his naturall infirmities and then and not before followeth blessednesse the stipend of vertue As for worldly Prosperitie I esteeme the same nothing lesse then prosperous as a thing whose sower neuer fayleth and whose sweet euer fleeteth as a spurre to wickednesse and a bridle to well-doing yea what glorious Titles or wealth can this Step-dame of Uertue bequeath vs y t perish not with or before the Possessors so y t were not y e followers of Fortune more blind thā their Guide of the two Prosperitie and Aduersitie they would accounte the later as the more necessarie because it openeth the eyes of the hart that Prosperitie stoppeth and oftētimes redeemeth Uertue as it were out of a filthie Dungion But to wish Aduersitie is lesse needefull than necessarie for so infinite and inscident are the Calamities that follow vs euen from our Cradles that wel may we wish either not to haue bene borne or quickly to die and so many are the wronges that men inflict vpon men that to reuenge all were impietie and to suffer all impossible wherfore iniuries think I not honestly to be dissembled may discreetely be reuenged or at the worst to seeke or worke reuenge is so much the lesse infamous by howe much the offered occasion thereof is iniurious That I should thus mention iniuries you maye perhaps muse but whether there be cause or no I make you my Iudges thus standing the case Cap. 29. AFter the continuaunce of long and wastfull warres betweene the Lydians and the Lycians a Truse for certaine yeares was concluded for assurance whereof either side did deliuer their Pledges the king my Father for a King is my father sent into Licia a Noble man his Nephew called Deipyrus whome hee had not long before preferred to a Dukedome otherwise highly aduaunced and the other king sent into Lydia a Noble yong Gentleman called Xenarchus whose Father is king of Cilicia and also at this present vsurpeth in Lydia whereof my father only retaineth the name of king but he the kingdom and that by means of a Rebellion moued by the same Deipyrus after his returne from hostage wherof thus followeth the circumstance Deipyrus partly of his own aspiring courage partlye suborned with rewards by my father his enemie the then Lycian king but cheefely for loue of Eurymone the same king his daughter with whom and him aw-lesse loue had already vnited harts did secretly gather a rebellious Armie and suddenly besieged my 〈◊〉 in his owne Citie Who seeing his Citizens not able to holde wage with the Besiegers after long resistance leauing behind him in the Citie the Queene my mother and with her two Infants their children conuaied himself into Cylicia there desiring assistance against the Rebels the which in an ill hower he easily obtained But or euer any rescue might be conuaied into Lydia my mother fearing to stay the Sack of the Citie and entrie of the foe hourely expected for flead priuily with her two infants into a great Forrest not farre from the besieged Citie where rootes and such wild berries as the place afoorded making an exchaunge of their wonted fare hardly lingered the soule in their bodies In the mean while the king of Cilicia lāded his men rescued the Citie and pursued with great slaughter the flying Rebels but myne vncle Deipyrus the chiefe Captaine conductour of these trayterous Rebels by chaunce recouered the before named Forrest and by that meanes escaped the sworde of the Pursuers Long had he not wandred here but that he hearde the pittifull shriekes of a woman wherefore making to the place from whence the sounde came he perceiued a Lady likely to haue bene abused by two stragling souldiours of Cilicia in whose defence at once he assailed them both and in the ende valiantly chasing them away deliuered her of their purposed trecherie which done not knowing whō he had so rescued he demaunded what she was and how it fortuned her and her two infants to wander so daungerously in the same Forrest My miserable mother for it was my Queene mother not knowing in that case the man vnto whose questions she was then to answere drying her dropping eyes and falling at his feete when she had stilled her yonglinges who with their pretie golles hugging about her necke cried out which her selfe wanted for foode not daring to bewray what one she was saide Cap. 30. LIke as good Sir no desertes other then your owne valour perswaded you erwhile to vse courage in my defence euen so the defect of mine abilitie respecting my wretched estate may disswade you from all hope of any small Recompence only accept of her poore thankes that shall ply the gods with often prayers that they hearing my wish may furnish my wāt with a reward for your merits otherwise I continually rest your disabled debtor But in that you aske what one I am alas Sir see you not y t I am a most desolat woman not borne to beg though now lesse happie thē a Begger who late did wāt nothing and now haue nothing not longe since as wealthy as I now am wretched able to haue harboured the best but now more harbourlesse than the worst and therfore feele I affliction so much the more burdenous by how much I once possessed aboundance for no want more miserable then to haue bene wealthy Who is it that feeleth not or at the least wise heareth not vnto what spoile and penurie the Rebels haue nowe left all Lidia to auoide whose outragious proceedinges I haue chosen with these my poore infantes to linger out our dying liues in this Forrest though death no doubt would haue bene to vs misers farre more sweeter Woe yea endlesse woe befall that vngratfull Traitor Deipyrus
the vnnatural ruine of his natural Countrie oh that once or euer these eies of mine shall leaue this light I might see the Caitiffe in like distresse if like might be as presently am I or that the Uillaine were as neere my reatch as euen now are you then would I a-while adiorn these womanish teares and with these handes vnaccustomed to such deedes claw out his trecherous eyes but alas to wish vengeaÌ„ce is nothing lesse then to be reuenged for had I the hap to possesse my wish I haue the hart should performe my will or might my curse procure him hell my blesse should neuer preferre him to heauen well leauing the Reprobate to a Million of mishaps which I doubt not will insiâ—ently ensue his misdeedes may I good Sir request your name and withall the present estate of our beseiged Citie Deipyrus with no small remorse noting the pitious distresse of the vnknowne Queen my molher hearing him selfe to himselfe so euill spoken of and banned wist not what to say as one but euen then ouertaken with the guiltinesse of his owne Conscience which is euermore a seuere Accuser and to the impenitent person a most terrible Iudge but in the ende after some astonishment he made her this aunswer Lady qd he as perceiuing in her many arguments of Gentrie by good reason suffer we losers to chafe neither is it a new thing that a wronged woman in like bitter termes doth vtter her passionate stomache Deipyrus I must confesse being the common enemie to his Countrie hath incurred a coÌ„mon curse of the Lydians whose chastment being generally desired of all shall priuatly be reuealed onely to you The same man Lady whose infamous Attempts hath returned the Attemptor a iust guerdon of his desertes and he whose punishment would be vnto you such pleasure presenteth himselfe before your eyes as hardlye distressed as your selfe haue desired whosoeuer you are that Deipyrus hath so much offended the same as humbly prayeth you of pardon offering also into your handes mine owne weapon vpon mine owne head to wreake your vengeance if it shal so please you by death to shorten my penance or else as your Bondslaue in your busines to employ my whole endeuour if by life you thinke good to lenghten my punishment for as I would not die a desperate Murtherer Tormentor and Traitor to mine owne person so wish I not to liue a despised Runnagate Reprobate and Recreant to mine own Countrie wherefore you being the Iudge the grieuous spectacle of these your pyning Infantes mine Accusors and my selfe which of it selfe is sufficient pleading to the accusation guiltie if you pronounce sentence of death you doe but Iustice without partialitie the executing of which sentence shalbe the accomplishment of you desire and the reward of my desertes Cap. 31. WHen Deipyrus had after this sorte finished such his speeches recounted to her after what manner the siege was raised by the king of Cilicia deliuered into her handes his naked sworde and solemnly vowed not to resist her dome as touching his life or death mine inraged Queene-mother grasping the yeelded weapon in her hande was fully resolued to haue sheathed the same in the bowels of Deipyrus when by and by altering her purpose by reason of his straunge submission and waying his lucke with her owne losse shee thinketh him alredy ouer seuerely punished and her wronges sufficiently reuenged yet anon casting her pitifull eyes vppon her pyning Babes rufully hanging about her their helpelesse Mother for foode not there to bee had her myldenesse was now conuerted to madnesse and as one vtterly resolute on his death in conceite shee imagined him alredy deade so fully was shee bente to bereaue him of life but euen at the verie pushe from out her vnhardie hande shee letts fall the harmelesse weapon and accuseth her selfe of ingratitude shall I thinkes shee returne so gracelesse a recompence in lieu of his late so gracious an enterprise is it not much more gaine to me that I am deliuered of Rauishmente which had bene incurable then loâ—â—e in that I am disgarnished of Riches which are recuperable yes yes the vertue of the first is more then the errour of the latter why then shoulde I not admitte the one and remitte the other Thus reasoning with her selfe as one offended with his passed Conspiracies pacified by his present Contrition and gratefull for his late profitable Combate shee dissembleth the first accepteth of the seconde and thanketh him for the thirde onely desiring his assistance to puruaie for their succour vntill hearing of more quietnes abroad they might with lesse daunger leaue the comforles Forrest Wherunto he redily coÌ„discented building theÌ„ bowres killing theÌ„ victuals in what he possibly might in their reliefe imploing his whole industrie not knowing of all this while who they weare vnto whome he became so carefull an Attendant albeit by circumstances he might haue bene induced to the knowledge of his charge for my Mother somewhat to be disburdened of the burning sorrowes of her bursting heart for working vessels and wofull heartes the one by vent the other by wordes are deliuered from breaking taking occasion in the hearing of Deipyrus to speake of the king my Father would sometimes vse these and such like speeches I woulde Deipyrus you coulde giue as good warrantie of the King his wel-fare as I a promise with a performance betwixte him and you of an Attonement but alas notwithstanding your discomfiture I am not so comforted that I rest feareles of Cilician practises well might the good King speede what euill so-euer I suffer who not prospering I mine and many perish and therefore dare I saie that with greater disease for his woe or gladder desire of his wealth his Queene and wife cannot labour than presently doe I that neither in the one nor the other do giue place to his best wel-willer Thus did she often make her mone a farre off not daring in plaine tearmes to disclose her selfe remembring how daungerous it is to repose confidence in a reconciled enemie in that point shewing her selfe better aduised then was my Father who giuing credite to the fayned shewes of a friendly foe did learne by the prise of a deere sallarie the proofe of a drie desembler and how to clime vp by the Breare is to be clawed with the Bramble for my Father making account to be re-established in his kingdom receiued froÌ„ y e Cilician king this crosse answere Sir qd he your plentifull thankes are superfluous and your profered liberalitie needelesse for that you perhaps will thinke me vnworthy so much whilst I thinke my selfe worthy of more and therefore may you proportion your thankes as it likes you seeing my portion shal be as it lists me Is it an easie matter thinke you to transport an Armie out of Cilicia to hazarde our liues in Lydia and hauing incountred and conquered the enemie to conuerte the glorie of the battle and gaine of the bootie to the profit of