could doo none other visite or desire to goe to them My face béeing on the suddaine become leane and pale caused so many maruailes doubts and sadnes in my house that euery one talked diuersly of the same And looking and lyuing in thys pittifull case and making semblaunce that I knewe of nothinge I remayned the most pensiue and the most sorowfull woman that might be My doubtfull thoughts did draw on and waste most part of the day vncertaine whither I might resolue my selfe to myrth or moane But séeing the nights fitting best my vnpleasant humours and finding my selfe alone in my Chamber after hauing first lamented my woes and talked manie thinges with my selfe stirred vppe and inspired as it were with better counsell I turned my deuout prayers to Venus saying Fiammettas prayer to Venus O singuler beautie of the Heauens O moste pittifull Goddesse and most holy Venus who in likenesse of thy selfe in the beginning of my anxieties diddest appeare vnto mee in this Chamber Aforde me now some comfort for my great gréefes and by that reuerend and internall loue that thou diddest beare fayre Adonis mittigate my extreame paines Beholde what tribulations I suffer for thée Beholde howe manie times the terrible Image of death hath béene presented before mine eyes The Image of death terrible Behold if my pure faith hath deserued so much paine as I wrongfully sustaine Béeing but yong and not knowing thy darts I suffered my selfe at thy firste pleasures and without denyall to become thy subiect Thou knowest how much good thou didst promise me and I cannot truely denie but that I haue enioyed some part thereof but if thou wilt comprehend these sorrowes which thou diddest giue me as part also of that good then let Heauen and earth perrish in one howre and let all lawes like vnto these be adnihilated and made newe againe with the world But if they séeme vnequall in thy sight as I hope they doo then let O gracious Goddesse thy promise be fulfilled because thy holy mouth may not be thought or saide to haue learned to dissemble as mortall mens doo Sende forth thy Sonne wyth his golden arrowes and wyth thy firebrandes to my Panphilus where he doth nowe remaine so far distant from mee and enflame his hart in such sorte if peraduenture for not séeing me so long time it is waxen too colde in my loue or too hote with the present beauty of an other that burning as I doo none occasion whatsoeuer may with-hold him from comming backe againe Because taking againe some comfort and ease vnder the heauie burden of these calamities I may not so quickly die O most fayre Goddesse let my wordes sounde into thy eares and if thou wilt not sette him on fire pull out of my poore hart thy wounding Darts because I may as well as he spende my dayes without such great gréefe Wyth thys forme of prayers although I sawe theyr effects but vaine yet thinking that they were hearde I did with small hope somewhat lighten my torments beginning new thoughts I said Oh Panphilus where art thou nowe Ielious thoughts Alas what dooest thou hath now the silent night surprised thée without sléepe and with so many teares as it hath taken holde of mee Or doth thy yong spouse perhaps not hearde of me at all holde thée in her armes or yet without any remembraunce of me doost thou swéetly sléepe Alas how may it be that Loue can gouerne two Louers with so vnequall Lawes bothe louing so firmely as I am too assured that I doo and as perhaps thou doost I know not But if it be so that these thoughts do occupy thy minde as they doo ouercome mine what wycked prysons or mercilesse chaynes doo hold thée that in breaking of them thou doost not returne to mee I know not certes what might stay me from going to thée vnlesse my beautye which woulde without all doubt be an occasion of my vtter shame and a great impediment to me in all places did not onely kéepe me backe What busines soeuer and what other occasions of stay thou diddest there finde shoulde bee by thys ended and nowe thy Father shoulde haue glutted himselfe with thy daily companie who is I knowe and for whose death the Gods know I doo continually pray the onely occasion of thy stay there And if not of this at the least of robbing thée from me he was vndoubtedly the onely cause and means But I feare me poore soule that going about to pray for hys death thou dost prolong his life so contrary are the Goddes to thy requestes and so inexorable in euery thing I craue of them Ah let thy loue if it be such as it was once wont to be conquere their opposite force and come againe Dost not thou thinke that I lye sadlie all alone a great part of the tedious nightes in the which thou diddest once beare me faithfull company though accompanied I must néedes confesse with millions of martyring thoughts Alas howe manie long Winter nights lying a colde without thée in a great and sollitarie bedde haue I passed heauily away Ah call to thy forgetfull minde the sundry kindes of these pleasures which in manie thinges we were wont to take togeger remembring which I am then certain that there is no other Woman able to deuide thée from mee And this beléefe doth make me as it were more surer then any other thing that the newes of the new spouse are but false which if they were true yet she cannot I thinke take thée from mee but for a time Returne therefore and if swéete delights haue no force to draw thée back againe let the desire which thou hast to deliuer her whom aboue all other Women thou louest from suddaine and shamefull death perswaded thée to bee reclaimed Alas if thou wert now returned I hardly beleeue that thou couldest know me againe for so hath excéeding sorow and anguish of mind extenuated and altered my former and faire countenaunce But that which infinite teares hath taken from mee a short gladnesse in séeing thy swéete face shall quickly restore to me againe and I shall be once again that Fiammetta which I was before Ah come Panphilus come because my hart doth still call vpon thée suffer not the flower of my yong daies to perrish in dole altogether prest for thy delights and vowed to thy pleasures I knowe not alas with what modestie I could bridle my suddaine and excéeding ioy if thou werte here againe but that vnmoderatly it should be manifest to euery publicke personne Because I doubt and iustly that our loue with great wisedome and patience a long time concealed might not bee perhaps discouered to euery one But yet wert thou come to sée and to try whither ingenious lies could as well take place in prosperous euēts as in aduerse crooked accidents Alas I wold thou wert for all this come and if it could not be better then let euery one that would knowe it because I woulde thinke
cleaued almost a sunder with vnspeakable gréefe and perceiuing my Louer to bee farre from mee like a desperate and franticke Womanne I beganne thus to say to my selfe Behold the very selfe and same occasion which Sidonian Eliza had to abandon this hatefull world cruell Panphilus hath giuen me And alas a great deale worse It pleaseth him that forsaking these I séeke out other regions And since I am become his subiect I will fulfill his hard beheste and pitty-les pleasure and in one howre I will requite my haplesse loue my committed wickednesse and my iniuried and déere husband with a tragicall and vnnaturall death And if oppressed soules deliuered out of thys corporall prysonne haue any liberty in the newe world I wyll without delay conioyne mine with hys And where my body cannot bee my soule shall supplye the place of it Beholde therefore I wyll die and so rydde me of all these paines I thinke it most conuenient that with these handes I execute this last stratageme vpon my selfe Because there can be no other hande so cruell that can perfectly performe that which iustly I haue deserued I wyll therefore without delay willingly take my death the remembraunce of which although it be terrible to my weake sexe and to my womanly thoughts yet shall it be as welcome vnto me as this painfull life is yrkesome vnto my soule And after that I had resolued vppon this last pretence I began to deuise with my selfe which was of a thousande wayes the best to take my life from me And first of all colde and sharpe yrons came to my minde the mortall meanes of many one hys vntimely death considering that the said Eliza by their cruelty did forsake thys cōmon ayre and then after these the deathes of Biblis and Amata were presented before mine eyes the manner of which was offered to mee to ende my weary life But more carefull of my honor and good name then chary of my selfe and fearing more the maner of dying then death it selfe the one séeming vnto me very infamous and the other too extreame cruell in the mouthes and mindes of euery one were occasions to make me refuse the one and not to like of the other Afterwards I imagined to doo as the Sagontines and as those of Abydas dyd the first fearing Hanniball of Carthage and the other Phillip of Macedon committing themselues and all theyr goods to the fury of consuming flames But knowing that thys coulde be no small detriment to my déere Husbande vnculpable and guiltlesse of my euils I refused also this kinde of death as I did the rest before After these I called to mind the venimous iuyces which héeretofore assigned to Socrates to Sophonisba to Hanniball and to many other Princes more their last daies And many of these indéede as they pleased my changable fancie so did I thinke them fitte for the purpose But perceiuing that in going about to séeke them no little time was requisite and doubting leaste by enquirie of them my drifts shoulde bee called in question and sifted out and that my determined purpose also in the meane while might perhaps haue béene altered I imagined to séeke out some other kinds of death Wherefore I bethought me as many times I had doone before to yéelde vppe my féeble spirits betwéene my knées but doubting least it should be known and suspecting some other impediment incident to it I passed to other headlong thoughts And the very same occasion and least I should be also séene made me forsake the burning and swalowed coales of Portia But the death of Ino and of Melicer ta likewise the hunger starued ende of Erisichthone occurring to my memory the long time that I should haue in executing the one and in staying for the other made me also to reiect them thinking that the paine of the laste did a greate while nourishe the languishing body But besides all these wayes the precipitate death of Perdix falling frō the highest Towre of Creete came also to my minde which spéedie kind of death onely pleased me infalliblie to followe as one deuoide of all insuing infamie saying to my selfe Casting my selfe downe from the highest Turrets of my Pallace I shall crush my boanes in a hundred péeces and dashe out my braines and by all those seuerall péeces will yéelde vppe my haplesse soule contaminated with prepared goare and ready broken vp to be offered vppe as a Sacrifice to the Gods And fewe or none there are that will imagine and say that by mine owne cruelty furie or proper will this death besell vnto me but imputing it rather to some vnlucky chaunce with powring out pittifull teares for mee will bewayle my vntimelie death and curse my froward Fortune This deliberation therefore tooke place in my mind and it liked me especiallie to put the same in practise thinking to haue vsed great pittie towards me if I had perhaps become pittilesse and cruell against mine owne selfe This determination therefore had now taken sure roote in my hart and I did not attend for any thing els but fitte time Wicked thoughts euer warre with good when a chillie cold suddainly entring into all my boanes made me tremble for very feare which brought these words with it saying O miserable Woman what dooest thou intende to doo Wylt thou ouercome with madde anger in a senceles rage fury cast thy selfe away If thou wert nowe constrained to die of some gréeuous infirmitie wouldest not thou alas endeuour and séeke to liue because at the length thou mightest sée thy Panphilus once more before thy death Dost not thou thinke that when thou art deade thou shall neuer sée him againe and that no kinde of pittie that hee may vse in thy behalfe may helpe thée any thing at all For what did the slacke returne of Demophoon profitte vnpatient and strangled Phillis She florishing without any delighte felt his comming which if she could haue staied for he might haue found her still a Woman as he left her and not a Trée Liue therfore Fiammetta for he will yet for all this returning as a fréende or as an enemie at length come to thée againe And with what disposed minde soeuer he returne thou canst not choose but loue him still And perhaps thou shalt sée him talk with him and mooue his vnconstant and harde harte to compassion of thy woefull plightes Hee is not made of sturdye Oake nor of Flinty stone nor borne bredde nor nourished in a hollow Caue amongst wylde Beastes and did neuer sucke the milke of Tygres nor drinke any other sauage and cruell beastes blood neither is his hart made of Diamonde or of stéele and is not of so brutishe and rusticall inclination but that he will lend his eares and bende his hart to my pittifull plaints passions and perswasions and take some remorse of coequall commiseration of my sustained sorrowes But if he will not be ouercome with pittie then wearyed of thy lothsome life it shall be more lawfull for
in whose poynts and edges consisteth the onely hope of my desires Or els strangling cordes lothsome and swelling poysons mortiferous hearbs choaking ryuers burning coales and consuming flames What doth this vigilant care auaile thée anie more but to prolong a little this yrkesome life and to reserue it to that kinde of death which euen nowe without touch or staine of infamie might haue set peace to my afflicted soule which by thy pittilesse interruptions deferred thou shalt doubtlesse at one time or other make most infamous vnto al the worlde and moste shamefull vnto mee Because death is in euerye place and consisteth in euery thing Let me therefore nowe die least growing to a more gréeuous condition of life with a more inhumaine minde and cruell hand I prepare for my selfe the most miserable and cruell death that may be Whylst wretched Womanne I spake these wordes I coulde not keepe my handes styll but sometimes fallinge on one Seruaunt and sometimes on an other catching some by theyr locks I pulled the heayre from theyr heade and fastening my nayles in the faces of other some I made the bloode to spynne out of theyr cheekes tearynge from othersome their poore garments from theyr backs But alas neither the olde Nurce nor the mangled seruauntes aunswered me one word againe but lamenting my sencelesse actions executed their pittious functions towardes me whom then with gentle wordes and entreties I endeuoured to gaine to my will which serued my turne nothing at all Wherefore lyke a franticke Hecuba making a great noyse and with outragious spéeches I beganne to exclaime saying O wicked handes and prone to al mischéefe you the adorners of my hurtfull beauties were a great occasion to make me become such an one as to séeme so fayre and pleasing in his eyes that I was desired of him whome I looue most of all Since therefore these euilles haue spronge by your helpe in guerdon of this vse now your wicked crueltie vpon my accursed body Rent it in péeces and open it and diued in my hotte blood pull out from my accursed bodie my miserable heart and inexpugnable soule Teare out I say this false hart wounded with blind looue And since that all meanes of mortall and murdering instrumentes are taken from thée with these reuenging fingers the adorners of my banefull beauties and with these sharpe nayles péece-meale dismember and without remorce of pittie rent it out Alas that my bootelesse spéeches did menace and promise me desired euilles and commended them to the execution of willing handes but the vigilant care of the prying seruantes béeing alwaies ready to the hinderaunce of them withhelde them against my will And the mournefull and importunate Nurce with dolefull speeches after all this beganne thus to say Affectionate comforts O déerest daughter by these miserable breasts which were the scources of thy alimentes I humbly pray thée that with a quiet and appeased minde thou wouldest giue eare to my wordes By them I will labour to mittigate thy passions that thou shalt not sorrow any more or to driue quite away perhapes from thée the blinde anger that dooth incend thée to this kinde of furie or else with a more remisse and calme minde to make thée suffer the same or else spéedely to forsake it Wishing thée to reduce that to thy erred memory that shall reuiue thée and be no smal health and great honour vnto thée It is therefore expedient for thée good Ladie most famous for so rare vertues as thou art endued with al the gifts of nature and fortune not to be subiect to pinching sorrow nor as a woman ouer-come to turne thy backe from daring dollours from threatning mishappes and from persuinge woes It is not a poynt of vertue to require death and to call vpon it nor a parte of magnanimitie to be afraide of life It is not vertue to desire death and to be afraid of life as thou art but rather to countermaund pressing euilles and to flie away before them is not the part of couragious and resolute mindes Whosoeuer dooth abate his destinies and dooth contemne deuide and cast from him the profittes pleasures contentes and goodes of his life as thou hast don I knowe not what néede he hath to séeke death and cannot tell why he feareth life since that the one and the other is a will of a timerous persō Now if into the darke dungeon of extreame misery thou doost desire wil-fully to cast thy selfe séeke not death because this is the last expeller and extinguisher of it Let this foolish fury fly out of thy mind by the which mée thinketh thou doost séeke both to haue and to lose thy loouer Why doost thou beléeue by béeing dissolued into nothing to get him againe To whom I aunswered not a word But there was such a rumour spread thorow out the wide house thorow out the Cittie and country rounde about that all my seruauntes no otherwise then at the howling of some hungrie woolfe all the néerest inhabitauntes are woont to méete together came running to me from euerie place and all of them afrighted with sodaine sorrow demanded what the matter was But I had already forbidden them that knew it to tell any thing at all Wherefore couering the horrible accident with a cunning lie they rested all satisfied My déere husband made hast thether and my louing sisters my carefull parents and fréends with panting fainting breasts came running to me And euery one of them equally deluded with a false tale did instéed of a most wicked woman repute and praise me for a holy Saint And euerie one after much wéeping first reprooued my life punished with so much sorrowe labouring afterwards to comfort me vp againe But from thence foorth it fell out that some beléeued that I was haunted and stinged with some fury and therefore like a madde woman continually watched mee But some more pittifull then the rest marking my mildnes and iudging it as it was indéede but a certaine gréefe of minde with taking great compassion of me laughed at that which the rest both dyd and sayd And visited thus of many I remained euery day more amazed then other And vnder the discrete garde of the sage Nource I was closely kept And as there is no anger so burning or so extreame All anger with time is brought to nothing but by course of time is made colde againe So remaining certaine dayes in this case as I haue set downe I came to my selfe at last againe and did manifestly know the Nurces wordes to be true And with bitter teares therefore I bewailed my passed follies But yet although that the heate of my rage in time was spent and became nothing my looue neuertheles did not one whitte decrease but taried with me still by reason of the melancholie vsed in other accidents before which now continually I had taking it gréeuously at the hart to be forsaken for the vniust looue of an other woman Wherefore I conferred with
them had they not béen mortall But I thinking onely of those vnluckie tydinges which I had hearde to one of you Gentlewomen to which I know not I sodainely became an open enemie and I began to reuolue great gréeuous matters in my perplexed minde And that amassed lumpe of gréefe which could not altogether containe it selfe in my breast with a furious and despitefull voyce I did in this sorte partly driue out of me saying O wicked and false young man O enemie to pittie and pittilesse wretch O Panphilus the worst of all those who with out deserte dooth breath this common ayre Disloyall Panphilus who hauing blotted me most miserable woman out of thy vngratefull memorie doost nowe dwell and delight thy selfe with thy newe deceitfull dame Accursed bee that haplesse day when fyrst I sawe thée and that fatall hower and very instant in whych thou diddest please my simple eyes Accursed be that Goddesse which appearing to mee with her allured promyses flattered my waueringe minde and disturbed the same though resisting with all her forces to the contrarie from the boundes of my right iudgement to lyke of thée wicked wretch and vngratefull monster to looue thée Certes I thinke that shee was not Venus but rather some infernall furie in her shape striking mee with madnesse and filling me with franticke furie as once she did miserable Atamas O most cruell youth whome amongst manie other most noble beautiful and valiaunt young Gentlemen I dyd fondly chuse out for the best where are nowe thy serious prayers which for safetie of thy life with teares thou diddest often tymes offer vnto me affirming that both that and thy death weare in my handes Where are nowe thy pittifull lookes and those two neuer dryed eyes with the which malicious man thou dyddest neuer cease at thy pleasure to shedde foorth teares in my presence Where is nowe the great looue that so brauely thou diddest fayne to shewe me Where are thy swéete wordes and thy sower gréefes thy infinite sorrowes thy paynes and trauels proffered and imployed in my seruice Are all these slyd out of thy memorie or hast thou framed them a new to entrap thy deceiued and newe loouer Accursed be that pittie of mine which tooke that life out of death his mouth that thereby making her selfe thē a ioyfull woman should haue rather sent it to the darkesome denne of death Nowe those eyes which whilome in my presence lamented laugh before their newe Mistresse and that mutable heart hath turned all his swéete wordes and faire offers to her onely and nowe hast thou hereticallie dedicated all thy seruices to her deuotions Alas Panphilus where are nowe those profaned and periured Godheades Where is thy promised fayth Where are thy infinit teares of the which miserable woman I drunke no small quantitie beléeuing them to bee tempered then with as great pittie and looue as now they are turned but to droppes of treacherous deceite All those placed in the bosome of thy newe Mistresse thou hast with thy selfe taken from me Alas how great a corsiue was it to my poore hart when once before I heard that by Iunos lawe thou werte combined to an other woman But perceiuing that the couenauntes in which thou didest binde thy selfe to me were not to be preferred before them although I did painefullie beare it yet ouercome with iust grefe I did with lesse anguish of minde endure it It is a great greefe that that which dooth iustly belong to one should vniustly be an others But now vnderstanding that by the self same lawes by the which thou wert boūd to me thou hast in casting me of giuē thy selfe to an other it is an vntollerable paine for me to sustaine But now I knowe the cause of thy stay openly perceiue my own simplicity with the which I euer beléeued that thou wouldest if possiblie haue once returned againe Alas Panphilus diddest thou stand in nede of so many guilefull artes and cunninge fetches to delude me Why diddest thou so often so solemnlie and so highlie sweare vnto mée with continuall asseueration of thy most entyre and sincere faith if thou diddest thinke thus to deceiue me Wherfore diddest not thou goe away without taking thy leaue or without making any promise of thy returne I did as thou knowest most feruentlie looue thée and thou wert not then so much entangled in my looue werte not so straightly my prisoner but at thy will as to my no small paine I now perceiue thou hast doone and without wasting such infinite and vaine teares thou mightest haue departed from me If thou haddest doon thus then I should without doubt haue sodainely dispaired of thy returne manifestlie knowing thy deceite and then with death ere this time or ese with iust obliuion my tormentes should haue béene concluded But because they might be the more prolonged in giuing me a little vaine hope thou hast continuated and nourished them still But I poore soule neuer deserued this at thy wicked handes Alas how swéete were thy salte teares to me but nowe knowing their vile effects I féele thē to be most bitter to my dying minde Alas if looue did so strongly rule in thée as he dooth féercelie vse his might and signorie in me tell me then if it was not sufficient for thée to be once captiuated but that the second time thou must fall into his forces againe But what doo I talke of looue For thou didst neuer looue but hast rather delighted to iest with young gentlewomen and hast made it but a sport to deceiue which thy subtilty their simplicity If thou had'st loued as I did beléeue thou did'st thou shouldest yet haue béene mine own And whose couldest thou haue béene that had looued thée more then I Alas what dame so euer thou be that hast taken him from me though thou art my mortall and onely enemie yet féeling the great gréefe which his falshood hath engēdred in my breast I must néedes take pittie on thée He that deceiueth once deceiueth euer Wherfore I warne thée to take héede of his deceites because he that hath once deceiued hath for euer after lost his honesty and shame and dooth make it no matter of conscience to deceiue euery one from thence foorth Alas wicked youth how many orisons and sacrifices haue I offered vp to the Gods for thy safetie and now thou must flie from mée to goe to an other O Goddes my praiers I perceiue are hearde but to the profitte of an other woman I haue the sorrowe and an other suckes the swéete I reape but dole and paine for my long deuotions and an other delight and pleasure of him who in right and equitie should be mine Ah wicked man was not my beauty correspondent to thy brauery my dooinges to thy desires and my nobilitie to thy Gentilitie Alas a great deale more Were my riches euer denied thée or dyd I take any of thine Ah neuer Did I euer in déede or demonstration looue any man besides thy selfe
And vnlesse thy new looue make thée degresse to farre from the trueth thou wylt confesse and say no. What faulte of myne therefore what iust occasion of thy parte what greater beautie or more feruent looue haue taken thée from mée and giuen thée to an other Truely none And all the Gods be my recordes héerein that I neuer wrought any thing against thée but that beyond all termes of reason I looued thée And if this hath deserued such treachery as thou haste doone and workest against mée let thy owne selfe disloyall as thou art be iudge O ye Goddes the iust reuengers of our vniust defectes I cal vpon you for cruel and due vengeance I neyther wishe nor goe about to practise his death who by his vile escape from mée would haue wrought mine Nor do pray that any other punishmēt may befal to his deserued guilt but if he looue his new choice as I looue him that in casting him of and giuing her selfe to an other as he hath taken him selfe from mée she would leaue him in that kinde of lyfe that cruel as he is he causeth me to leade And so with vnséemely motions of my body turning me now this way now that way like a franticke woman I tumbled and tossed vp and downe in my bed All that day was not spent in other spéeches then in such of like tennour and in most bitter waylings But the night worser then the day and more apte for all kinde of sorrowe the melancholy darkenes being more conformable too meditating miseries then the light béeing now stolen on it came to passe that béeing in déede with my déere husband and lying a great while silent to my selfe and broade waking yet warring within my selfe with hostes of dollorous thoughts amongest which calling to memory all my passed times aswell my pleasaunt occurrences as sorrowfull passages and especially that I had lost my Panphilus by meanes of a new looue my gréefe grewe in such aboundaunce that vnable to keepe it any longer within with great lamentations dolefull complaints I burst it out albeit concealing the amorous occasion of it And my sighes were so forcible and my sobbes so profounde that my Husbande béeing nowe a goodwhile drowned in déepe sléepe by the great noise and molestation of them was awaked and turning himselfe to me who was spunged in mine owne teares and taking mee louingly in his armes with milde and pittiful words he said thus vnto mee O my swéete soule The loue of a good husband what sinister cause of so dolefull a plaint in the quiet night when thou shouldest take thy rest doth trouble thée thus What thing is it that this long time hath made thée so melancholicke and sad Nothing must bée concealed from mee that may any way displease or discontent thée Is there any thing that thy hart dooth desire and that my witt and substance may compasse for thée or that in demaunding of it thou mightest possibly haue Art not thou my onelie comfort my ioy and my good And doost not thou knowe that I loue thée aboue all worldly thinges yea more then my selfe Whereof not by shewe nor one proofe but by dailie experience thou maist liue assured Wherefore dooest thou therefore lament in such sort Wherfore doost thou afflict thy selfe in such extreame gréefe Doo I séeme vnpleasant ill fauoured or nothing gracious in thyne eyes or am I vnworthy of thy beauty or is not my birth parentage and estate agréeable to thy nobilitie or doost thou think mée culpable in any thing that I may amende Speake and tell me franckly and discouer to me the vale of thy desires There shal be nothing left vndoone or vnattempted for thy sake if it may possible bée Thou doost altered in visage and apparrel and extreamely sorowfull in all thy actions minister a doleful occasion and matter to me of an vnquiet life And though I haue before séene thée continually sadde pensiue yet thys day more then at any time I thought of late that some bodilie infirmitie was the cause of thy palenes but nowe I doo manifestly know that it is gréefe of mind that hath brought thée to this pittiful case wherin I sée thée wherfore I pray thée close to me the roote from whence all thy sorowes do grow Whom with a feminine and suddaine witte taking counsel of fained tales and lies which before hadde serued mee for a shyft I answered thus O swéete Husband déerer to me then all the worlde besides I lacke not anie thing wherein thy forward help may auaile mee and acknowledge thée without all doubt more worthy then my selfe but the death of my déere Brother of which thou art not ignorant hath long before and now since brought me to this extreame sorrow Which as often as I thinke of it with bitter wailings dooth rent my harte in péeces Sometimes the maner of ones death is more lamēted then the death it selfe And certes I bewaile not so much his cruell death a thing naturallie incident to vs all but the strange and pittifull manner of the same which thou diddest know to be violent infortunate and bloodie And besides this the straunge things and vglie sights that appeared to me after his death doo kill my fearefull soule to thinke of I can neuer so little shut vp mine eyeliddes or giue any slender sléepe to my sorrowfull eies but immediatly all pale trembling naked and full of goare shewing me his cruell woundes he appeareth quaking before me And euen then when thou diddest perceiue me to wéepe and lament hee came into the Chamber standing and staring before me as I was a sléepe in likenes of a horrible and fainting ghoste fearefully quaking wyth a breathles and panting brest in such sort that he could scarce vtter one word but at the last with extreame paine sayde O my déere Sister wipe that blotte of ignominie from me which with an appalled and troubled face looking euer for verie gréefe and shame thereof on the ground doth make my sorrowfull ghost wander with great disgrace and scorne amongst other haples sprites And although it was some comfort for me to sée him yet ouercome with terror which I had of his dreadfull habite and mooued with iust compassion of his words with starting on a suddaine I awaked out of my féeble sléepe and thus my teares the which thou dooest nowe goe about to comfort fulfilling the duetie of my conceiued pittie did at hand follow And so as the Gods know if weapons were fitte for Women I woulde ere this haue reuenged his miserable death and with a fierce countenaunce and couragious hart sent the gréedie gutton of his innocent blood amongst other damned soules But alas I can doo no more then I am able Therefore déere Husbande not without great occasion I am thus miserablie tormented in minde O with howe manie pittiful words did he then comfort me applying a salue to the wounde which was healed long inough before and howe did hee endeuour to
furie And call him the Sonne of Venus saying that he deriueth his omnipotent power from the third Heauen as though you woulde excuse your follyes with a néedlesse kind of necessitie O deceiued soules and vtterlie deuoide of all reason and most ignorant of that which you saie Sent from the infernall furies Wanton loue reproued with a suddain and swift flight he visiteth all the world bringing to him the dooth entertaine him not deitie but dispaire not fréendly felicitie but fendlie folly allighting on those whō he dooth know to a bounde in superfluitie of worldly goods and to enioye them with a vaine and prodigall mind and on him whom he thinketh fittest and most forwarde to make him place And thys is héere most manifest by thée Why doo we not sée holy Venus to dwell oftentimes in little cottages bothe profitable and necessarie for our procreation yes truly But this who by frensie is called Loue coueting euer dissolute thinges lodgeth in no other place but where happy Fortune dooth smyle and where her gyfts abound Thys dainty one disdayning no lesse sufficient foode to satis-fie nature then necessary clothing dooth frame all hys perswasions to delicate fare and sumptuous attyre and so entermingling his secrete swéete poyson with them doth deceiue and destroye vnwarie and ignoraunt soules Thys more willingly and often séene in high and princly Palaces is seldome or neuer séene in poore and Country cottages Because it is a certaine precise pestilence which dooth chuse out onely braue and stately lodginges as most agréeable in the ende to his wicked practises We sée in poore and simple people effects of good and quiet consequence but in the rich wallowing in pleasure and shyning in theyr aboundaunce of gold insatiable as well in this as in all thinges els that he is more then is requisite for the most part founde and that which he cannot doo who can doo most he dooth desire and especially endeuour to bring to passe Among whom I perceiue thée most vnhappy and vnfortunate Mistresse to be one who by too much wealth ease and idle pleasure hast entred into these newe and vnbeséeming cares Whom after I had a good while heard I aunswered thus again Holde thy peace thou olde and foolish dotarde and prate not thus against my God Thou speakest voluntarily against him thy self béeing no lesse impotent for these effects then iustly cast of all menne blaspheming hym nowe whom in time of thy yonger yeres thou diddest religiously adore If other Ladies more noble wiser and more famous thē my selfe haue heretofore thus entitled him and cease not yet to call him by the name of a mighty God how can I then alone giue him anie newe or deuised name To be plaine with thée I am become his Subiect but from whence the occasion of this allegance doth spring I neither know nor can tell thée And what can I doo more My feminine forces conioyned oftētimes wyth hys celestiall power are ouercome and constrained to retyre backe againe Wherefore there resteth no more for the end of my newe and mortall paynes but my néere death or els the enioying of my wished loue which woes I praye thée to mitigate if thou art so wise as I estéeme thée by thy sage coūsel and spéedie helpe which will perhaps lessen them at the least or els by thy bitter reprehensions surcease to exasperate and make them greater blaming that in mee which my soule not able to doo otherwise with all the power and force it hath is wholly disposed to follow She departed therfore out of my Chamber somewhat offended as she had indéede good cause at this my peremtorie answere not giuing mee one word againe but murmuring I know not what with her selfe leauing me all alone Nowe was my louing Nurce I say gone In this place one may see how contrarie sensualitie is to reason without speaking anie more to me whose counselles though vnaduisedly reiected of me yet I remaining all alone pondered all her wordes in my carefull breast And although my vnderstanding was obscured with mistie clowdes of senceles loue I founde in them neuerthelesse a swéete and relyshed taste which making my hart touched as it were with repētance with a wauering and vnconstant mind I did consider better of that which euen now I told her I had resolued to folow Wherfore beginning nowe to thinke to perswade my selfe to let this doubtfull and daungerous matter passe away I thought it good to call her backe againe for my néedeful comfort but this good motion was quickly countermaunded by a new and suddaine accident Venus doth appeare vnto her Because lying all alone in my secrete Chāber a most faire Lady not knowing frō whence she came appeared before mine eyes glittering with such shyning light that compassed her round about that my dazeled eies might scarce behold her who standing thus before mee without either mouing or speaking as much as by the golden light I might illuminate sharpen my eies so far foorth did I cast their beames vntill at laste her beautifull forme and formall feyture of her body was fully arriued to my perfect knowledge Whom whē I did cléerely sée to be all naked A fine description of a fayre woman sauing only a thine vaile of fine purple silk which although it couered some part of her snow white body did neuertheles abridge my sight in looking on her no more then if I had beheld some goodly figure or Image enclosed in cristal or cléere glasse Her maiestical head the haire wherof did so much excéede gold in brightnes as the golden colour of ours passeth the yellowest and softest in fairenes was crowned with a fine Garland of gréene Myrtils vnder the shadow of which I saw two eyes of incomparable beauty and passing louelie to behold did cast foorth a meruailous and splendant brightnes and all the rest of her faire face was in like proportion adorned with such diuine beautie that her like on earth myght not I think be found She spake not a word glorying perhaps in her self to sée me gaze on her so much or els to please and delight me perceiuing me so greatly content desirous to behold her yet at length by little and little in the transparant and shyning light more cléerely discouering to mee the fairest parts of her daintie body because shee knewe the with my vnable tongue I coulde not rehearse her excéeding beauties nor without euident sight of them imagine any such to liue amongst mortall men Which admirable beauties whē she perceiued that I had seuerally earnestly marked and to maruaile no lesse at the rare perfection of them as to wōder at her comming thither with a pleasant and mild countenaunce and with an angelicall voyce she began to speake thus vnto me Venus her speeche to Fiammetta Yong Lady and of all others most noble what dost thou intend to doo disturbed by the new coūsels of thy old Nurce knowst thou not that
from me as it came my eares by chaunce hearde certaine doolefull mutterings and sorrowfull bewaylings vttered forth by my best beloued Wherfore suddainly troubled in minde and my thoughts at warre within themselues for his welfare made mee almoste interrupt him wyth these words Swéete hart what doost thou ayle But countermanded by new counsell I kept them in and with a sharpe eye and subtile eares secretely beholding him turned nowe on the otherside of the bedde I lystened a good while to his sorowfull and silent words but mine eares did not apprehend anie of thē albeit I might perceiue him molested with great store of lamentable sobbes and sighes that hée cast forth and by séeing also hys breast bedewed all wyth teares What words alas canne sufficiently expresse wyth howe manie cares my poore soule all thys while beeing ignoraunt of the cause was afflicted A thousand thoughts in one moment did violentlie runne vppe and downe in my doubtfull mynde méeting all at the laste and concludinge in one thing which was that hee louing some other Woman remained wyth me héere and in this sorte against hys wyll My words were very often at the brinck of my mouth to examine the cause of his greefe but doubting least hee lamenting in this sorte and béeing suddainly espied and interrupted of me he might not bee greatly abashed thereat they retyred back and went downe again and oftentimes likewise I turned away mine eies from beholding him because least the hote teares distilling from them and falling vppon him might haue giuen him occasion and matter to knowe that I perceiued his wofull plight Oh how many impatient meanes did I imagine to practise because that he awaking me might coniecture that I hadde neither hearde his sighes nor séene his teares and yet agréed to none at all But ouercome at the last with eager desire to knowe the occasion of his complaint because hee shoulde turne him towards mee as those who in their déepest sléepe terryfied by dreaming of some great fall wylde beast or of some ghastlie thing giue a suddaine start and in most fearefull wise rouse vppe themselues affrighted out of theyr sléepe and wyttes at once euen so wyth a suddayne and timorous voice I skriked and lifting vppe my selfe I violently caste one of my armes ouer his shoulders And truly my deceit deceiued me not because closely wyping away his teares with infinite though counterfet ioy he quickly turned towardes mée againe and with a pittifull voice sayd My fayrest and swéetest soule of what wert thou afraid Whō without delay I answered thus My Loue I thought I had lost thée My words alas I knowe not by what spyrite vttered forth were most true presagers and foretellers of my future losse as nowe to true I find it But he replyed O déerest déere not hatefull death nor anie aduerse chaunce of vnstable Fortune whatsoeuer can worke such operations in my firme breast that thou my onlie ioy shalt leese me for euer And incontinently a greate and profound sighe folowed these pittiful words the cause of which not so soone demaunded of mee who was also moste desirous to knowe the ofspring of his first lamentations but sodainely two streames of teares from both his eyes as from two fountaines beganne to gushe out amaine and in great aboundance to drench his sorrowfull breast not yet thorowlie dryed vp by his former wéeping And holding mée poore soule plunged in a gulfe of gréefes ouercome with flooddes of brinish teares a longe time in a dolefull and doubtfull suspence before euen so did the violence of his sobbes and sighes stoppe the passage of his wordes he could aunswer any thing to my demaundes againe But after that he felt the tempest of his outragious passion somewhat calmed with a sorrowfull voyce yet still interrupted with many heauy sighes he sayde thus againe O déerest Lady and sole Mistresse of my afflicted hart and onely belooued of me aboue all other women in the worlde as these extraordinarie effectes are true recordes of the same If my plaintes deserue any credite at all thou mayst then beléeue that my eyes not without a gréeuous occasion shed earst such plenty of bitter teares when so euer that is obiected to my memory which remaininge nowe with thée in great ioye dooth cruelly torment my heart to thinke of that is when I remember with my selfe that thou mayest not alas faine would I that thou couldest make two Panphilowes of me because remaining héere and being also there whether vrgent and necessary affayres doo perforce compell me most vnwillingly to retire I might at one time fulfill the lawes of looue and my pittifull naturall and duetifull deuoyre O my aged and loouing father Being therefore not able to suffer any more my pensiue hart with remembrance of it is continually with great affliction galled more and more as one whom pitty drawing on the one side is taken out of thy armes and on the other side with great force of looue is still reteyned in them All these reasons are condemned of louers which perturbe their ioyes These wordes perced my miserable hart with such extréeme bitternesse as I neuer felt before And although my dusked wittes did not well vnderstand them notwithstanding as much as my eares and sences attentiue to theyr harmes did receiue and conceiue of them by so much more the very same conuerted into teares issued out of my eyes leauing behinde them their cruell malicious effects in my hart This was therefore good Ladies the fyrst hower in the which I felt such grudgīg gréefs enuious of my plesures this was that hower which made me power forth vnmesurable teares the like neuer spent of me before whose course and maine streames not any of his comforts consolatory words could stop stench one whit But after I had a long time together remained in woefull walinges enfolding him loouingly beetwéene my armes I praied him as much as I could to tell me more cléerely what pittie what due pyetie that was that did drawe him out of my armes and threaten me his absence wherupō not ceasing to lament he said thus vnto me Ineuitable death the finall ende of all thinges of manie other sonnes hath left me sole to suruiue with my aged and reuerent father who burdened with many yeres and liuing without the swéet companie of his deceased wife and louing brothers who might in his olde yéeres carefully comforte him and remaining now without any hope of more issue being determined not to marrie dooth recall me home to sée hym as the chéefest part of his consolation whome he hath not séene these many yéeres past For shifting of which iournie because I would not swéet Fiammetta leaue thée there are not a fewe monthes past when fyrst by diuers meanes I beganne to frame some iust and reasonable excuse But he in fyne not accepting of any did not cease to coniure me by the essence which I had by him and by my impotent childhoode tenderly
small time did make them appeare no otherwise to my fancies then if they hadde béene true indéede Sometimes mee thought hee was returned Dreames represent many times those things which are beloued and that in most fayre Gardens frée from all suspicion and feare decked with gréene leaues swéete flowers and diuers kinds of pleasant fruites I sported and played wyth him as other times we did accustome to doo And there I holding him by the hande and hee mee vnfolding his fortunes good and badde and telling all his accidents vnto mee mee thought that many times before hee had perfectly tolde out his tale with often kissing I didde interrupt him in his delightfull discourses And as if the same hadde béene true indéede which but with fained eyes I did contemplate I said And is it true swéete Panphilus that thou art returned againe Certes it is For héere I haue thée And then I kissed him againe Mée thought that other times wyth great sollace I was walking with him vp and downe the sea banks And sometimes my imagination was so strong héerein that I did affyrme it with my selfe saying Well now I doo not dreame that I haue him betwéene mine armes O howe it gréeued me when it came to passe that my pleasant dreames and swéete sléepe were both ended which going away did continually carie that away with them which without any trouble or gréefe to him I must néedes confesse did oppresse me And although that I remained in great melancoly by remembring of thē liuing neuerthelesse al the next day in good hope I was somewhat content and eased desiring still that night would quicklie drawe on because I might in my sléepe enioy that which waking I could not attaine to And although my sléepe did sometimes yéelde mee such néedy fauours notwithstanding it did not permitte mee to receiue such dreames of pleasure mingled without much bitter and poysoned galle of sorrowe because many times me thought I sawe him apparelled with ragged and forlorne garments besmeared all ouer I know not with what foule and blacke spottes and very pale and fearefull as though hee had béene pursued of some cruell enemie with shrikes and outcryes calling to me Helpe me Oh my Fiammetta helpe me Other tymes me thought I hearde diuers talke and mutter of his death And sometimes these fantasies of horror perced so farre into my minde that me thought I sawe him lie dead before me and in many other vncouth and pittifull formes so that it neuer came to passe that my sléepe was of more force or greater then my gréefe Wherefore sodainely awaked and knowing the vanitie of my dreame as one contented yet but to haue dreamed these terrours and terrible daungers I thāked the Goddes Things sene in dreames are some times true or else figures of true thinges remaining yet some what troubled in minde and fearing that the thinges which I had séene if not in all in parte at least they had béene true or else figures of true thinges to come Neither I was content at any time or perswaded by the contrarietie of these although I sayd with my selfe and heard of others that dreames were but vaine vntill I did heare some newes of him of the which I beganne now carefully and warely to enquier after And in such sorte as you haue heard fayre Ladyes I passed away the tedious dayes and irkesome nightes attending one still after other in their long course But the trueth is that the time of hys promised returne approching I déemed it the best and safest counsell to lyue merely in the meane time by which meanes my beautie a little altered and decayed by reason of this long vnacquainted gréefe might returne againe into her proper place because at his arriuall I might not séeme ill fauored and not gratious in his sight and so might not perhaps please his deinty and curious eyes Which was not harde for mée to doo because being since his departure accustomed and well acquainted with sorrowes it made mée endure and passe them away with verie little trouble or no payne at all And besides this the néere hope of his promysed returne made mée euery day féele a little more ioye and content of mynde Wherefore I beganne to frequent to feastes againe not a little while before intermitted of mée ascribing the occasion thereof to my obscured and clowdie dayes perceauing nowe the cléere and newe times to be at hand Nor no sooner dyd my mynde contracted earst with most bitter and pynching gréefes beginne to dilate and enlarge it selfe in such a pleasaunt and ioyfull life but I became fayrer then euer I was before And I trimmed vppe my gorgeous and rich vestures made my precious ornaments fayrer no otherwise then a valiaunt Knight at armes dooth cleare and make bright his Compleate Harnesse challenged to some worthye and famous combatte because I myght seeme more statelie and brauelie attyred with them at hys returne the whych as after it fell out in vayne I dyd attend As then therefore these actions were chaunged into an other tennour so dyd my thoughtes also chaung theyr coppie Vaine thoughts of loouers It came neuer nowe into my minde that I coulde not sée hym when hée departed nor the remembraunce of the sorrowfull signe of hys smytten foote agaynst the doore nor any thought of stynging and enuious iealousie nor hys susteyned troubles nor my suffered toyles nor his daungers nor my dollours did now molest my peace but rather dayes next before the ende of hys promysed returne I sayd to my selfe Nowe it dooth gréeue my Panphilus to bée long from mée and perceiuing hys time néere according to his promise dooth make short preparation and hast for his spéedy returne And now perhappes hauing left his olde father he is on his waie Oh howe pleasaunt were these wordes vnto me and how often dyd I most swéetly deskant vpon this note thinkinge many times with my selfe with what kinde of most loouing entertainement gratious gesture and swéete and fréendlie shewes I might at the fyrst represent my selfe vnto his personne and welcome him Alas howe many times sayde I to my selfe At his returne he shall be more then a thousand times imbraced of me and my zealous kisses shal be multiplied in such store that they shall not suffer one right and perfect word to come out of his mouth and I will make restitution of them a hundred times redubled which at his departure without receiuing on his parte any againe he gaue to my pale and halfe deade visage And in these kinde of thoughtes I doubted many times with my selfe that I could not bridle that burning and feruent desyre that I should then haue at the first sight of hym to embrace hym if I did perhappes sée him in open an publique companie But the vngentle Goddes as you shall hereafter perceiue found out a sorrowfull meanes which perswaded no feare doubte or mistrust of the due performaunce of any such circumstaunces and ceremonies denying
mée the chéefest thinge in déede Remayning therefore continually in my chamber and as often as any body came into the same so often dyd I beléeue that they were come to bring mée tydinges that hee was comming or else to tell mée that hee was alreadie arriued I neuer heard any talke in any publyque and pryuate place but with open and attentiue eares I noted it well thinking that eyther they did or else should speake of his returne And sitting in my chamber I rose I thinke a thousand times out of my place to runne to the windowe as though I had béene busied about something else looking from thence a farre of and beneath also at the doore driuen on by the suggestion of a foolishe conceite and fonde beléefe of his béeing néere I sayd Is it possible Fiammetta that Panphilus being now returned dooth come to sée thée And afterwardes finding my mind illuded confounded with my selfe I went to my place againe And saying that at his returne hee should bring certaine thinges to my hushande I did often times aske and caused many to enquier if he was arriued or when his fréendes in these partes did looke for him But receiuing no ioyful aunswer of my diligent and carefull enquiries but onely such an one as of him that should neuer come any more as afterwardes indéede he did not caused mee to liue in a most sorrowfull and solitarie plight Wherefore wrapped most pittifull Ladies in these cares as you haue heard I came not onely to the greatly desired and with infinite payne expected terme but I passed it also many daies after in great and gréeuous woes And vncertaine with my selfe whether I should blame him or not my hope beganne by little and little to relent Wherfore I partly left of my former and pleasant imaginations into the which giuing perhappes my mind to great a scope I had entred to farre And new thoughtes nowe the olde being gonne beganne to tosse and turmoyle my soule a freshe and holding my minde in diuers doubtes and perplexities to know what was the occasion of his tariaunce longer then he promised I beganne to excogitate many things carefully with my selfe They feele incredible passioÌ„s who after the and of their promised time se not the returne of their beâ—ooued And before many other doubts that were obiected to my minde I found many thinges so ready in hys excuse and many more then he him selfe if he had bene here could haue perhappes alleadged Sometimes I sayd Oh Fiammetta what reason dooth make thée thinke that thy Panphilus dooth stay without returning to thée but because he cannot diuers sodaine chaunces and vnexspected affayres doo many times hinder forward men in their determinations and doo quite dissolue their disseignmentes Nor is it possible to prescribe so precise a time to future thinges as many vnwisely beléeue And who dooth doubt also that present néere auncient and dutifull pietie dooth not binde more then that which is absent straung new and but méere volentrarie I know it very certaine that he looueth me most of al and dooth now thinke of my sorrowful life and hath no small compassion of my paines And pricked on by force of loue is many times in hand and most willing to set forwardes and to come vnto me But the olde doterd his iniurious father with his teares perhappes and prayers hath somewhat more prolonged his appointed time and opposing his commaundementes to his forwarde will hath retayned him still there Wherefore as soone as fit oportunitie is aunswerable to his desirous minde hee will come to me againe But after these spéeches and fréendly excuses my thronging thoughts did driue me on farther to imagine more straung vnluckie and more gréeuous occurrauntes Sometimes I sayd Who can tell if he more wilfull then his due looue required to sée me againe and too precise to come iust at the ende of his appointed moneth laying a side the great pittie of hys aged father and neglecting all other busines hath embarqued him selfe in some slender vessell not attending the calmes of the tempestuous waues and crediting to much deceitfull and lying Mariners who for their gaine are too aduenturous and desperate of their owne liues and too prodigall of those of their passengers and hauing committed him selfe to the rage of the mercilesse windes and surging waues of the daungerous Seas is perhappes drowned and perished in them Vnfortunate Leander by no other occasion and lamentable meanes then these was taken from hys happelesse Heroe Againe who knoweth if constrained by hys froward fates and fortune he is throwen vpon some vnhabitable and desert rocke and escaping daunger and death by water in exchaung of that hath gotten a worse by famine or rauening foules or else lefte vppon any rocke by forgetfulnesse as Achimenedes was dooth in vayne attend that some shold come or by chaunce touch by to fetch him from thence For who is ignoraunt how full of deceytes the lawlesse seas are For it may be also that he is taken by enemies or with giues by wicked Pyrattes bound fast and kept in prison All which perrilles as they are common so doo we daily sée them come to passe But on the other side afterwardes it came to my minde that his iourney was more safe by land yet I did imagine likewyse of a thousand sinistrous chaunches that might hinder and stay him aswell that way Wherfore iudging that he might when such inopinate and vnluckie hazardes of fortune came sodainely and soonest obiected to my minde finde the more iust and better excuse as he did alleadge the greater and worser daungers some times I sayd The effect of the Sun in the spring time Beholde the Sunne whotter then it was wont to be dooth dissolue the huge hilles of Snowe congealed in the middle region of the Ayre whereupon with furious and flowinge streame they came powring downe into the plaines of the which he hath not a fewe to passe ouer Wherefore if nowe with more audatious rashnesse theÌ„ aduised reason he hath aduentured to passe ouer them with his horse is fallen into any of them and stifled there amongst them hath miserablie lost his lyfe why how can he then come Floodes haue not learned of late neyther is it a straunge thing to them with these iniuries to molest trauaylers and cruellie to swallowe vp vnawares those that passe ouer them But if he hath happily escaped these vnhappy daungers he may be perchaunce fallen into the handes of some pittilesse théeues and despoyled of all that he hath is perforce kept and without hope of redemption stayed of them Or else paraduenture may be ouertaken by some maladie in the way where now he abydeth for the recouerie of hys health and after he is well agayne will without fayle come iyofully to vs. Whyle these carefull imaginatyons occupyed thus my perplexed minde a lyttle colde sweate did ouerrunne all my bodie and I was so greatly afrayde of the euent of these vncertaine dangers and
with them I began to sitte mee downe incontinentlie againe entring still into newe and fantasticall imaginations Euery thīge refresheth the memory of the Louer of his sorpassed and happy life It came then to my minde howe solemne and glorious that feast was which like vnto this was once made in honor of my nuptiall ioy in the which béeing then but a simple soule in franticke loue matters and frée from melancholye passions as abounding in all ioy I sawe in my selfe wyth woorthy congratulations of euery one honourablye saluted and nobly entreated And cōparing those times with these and séeing them beyond all proportion altered I was wyth great desire if oportunitie of time and place had graunted prouoked to wéepe This swyft and suddaine thought didde runne also in my minde when I sawe the yong Gentlemen and Gentlewomen to reioyce equally together and to bee merry alike courting and deuising one with another sometimes with many pleasant and swéete discourses and sometimes with many singuler and prettie deuises fitte for such purposes howe that once I behelde my Panphilus in lyke places and howe in his company he and I all alone had passed the time there together and could not nowe doo the like And it gréeued me no lesse to sée my selfe depryued of the occasion of making such kind of ioy and enioying such content then I was sorrowfull for the pleasure which I loste by the not performance of the same But from thence applying my eares to amorous delights songs and sundry tunes and remembring those with my self that were passed I sighed and meruailous desirous to sée the ende of such tedious feastes béeing malecontent in the meane time and sorrowfull wyth my selfe I passed them away Notwithstanding beholding euery thing exactly the companies of yong Gentlemen béeing flocked about the Gentlewomen and Ladies that nowe were sette downe to rest them and retyred into diuers places to gaze on them I did perceiue well that many of them or almost all did sometimes ayme theyr beames at me and did talke secretly amongst themselues of diuers things touching my beautie brauery and behauiour but not so softlie but that by manifest hearing of my owne part or by imagination or hearesay of some others no smal part of their spéeches came to mine eares Some of them said one to another Diuers opinions and speeches of menne Alas behold that yong Gentlewoman who had not her paragon for beautie in our Cittie and sée nowe what an one she is become Dooest not thou sée how strangely she is altered and how appalled her once faire face is growne my selfe béeing as ignorant of the cause as amazed to sée the effects And hauing thus said looking on me with a most pittifull and milde eye as they who were greatly condolent of my gréefes going away left mee full of compassion and more pittious towards my selfe then I was wont to be Others didde enquire of one another amongst themselues saying Alas hath this Gentlewoman béene sicke And afterwards did answere themselues again saying It séemeth so because she is wexed so leane and pale Wherefore it is great pittie especiallye thinking of her former beautie that is nowe vaded quite away But there were some of a déeper reache then the reste whose true surmises greeued me very much after many gesses and spéeches amongst themselues saying The palenes of this yong Ladie is a manifest token of an enamored hart For what kind of infirmitie doth bring a Louer to a lower estate of bodie then the vnruly passions of feruent and hote affection She is vndoubtedly in loue And if it be so hée is too cruell and inhumaine that is the cause of such vnwoorthye consequences gréefe and cares I meane that make her looke with so pale and thinne chéekes When I had hearde these nipping wordes that rubbed vppe my festered wounde I coulde not with-holde my sighes perceiuing that others were more ready to pittie my miseries then he to preuent these mishaps who by greatest reason and most of all shoulde haue hadde compassion in his thanklesse harte And after I had fetcht manie déepe sighes with an humble and lowe voice I earnestlye besoughte the Gods that in lue of their kindnes towardes me they might haue better successe in their Loues And I remember again that the value of my honour and honestie was not small amongst some of them who in talking together did fauourably séeme to excuse the foresaide true surmises saying The Gods forbid that we should hatch such a thought in our minds to say that fonde Loue shoulde molest this wise modest yong Ladie or that blind affection could trouble her minde at all For she as she is endued with as great honestye as any other so was shee as it euer séemed neuer addicted to such vanities as many of her coequalles and hath not shewed at any time so much as a semblance of wanton boldnesse but continually arguments of wise and modest behauiour Nor amongst the diuers communications and companies of curious and inquisite Louers there could be neuer heard any spéech of her Loue Loue is a passion not supported any long time not once immagined amongst them which is so furious and forcible a passion that it will not bée anie long time concealed but will like restrained flames violently burst out vnawares Alas sayd I then to my selfe howe farre doo they roame from the truth not déeming me to be in loue because as it is the manner of fooles I make not my loue publicke to the view of euery one and preache it not openly abroade to bee secretely tossed from mouth to mouth as others vainly glorying in theirs are commonly wont to doo There came also sometimes oppositely before mee many yonge and noble Gentlemen proper men of personage of swéete and amiable countenaunces in euery thing gracious couragious and curteous and the chiefest flowers of our Cittie who often times before by many cunning meanes and drifts hadde to their vtmost of their power attempted and laboured to haue drawne but the deuotions of my eyes to the desires of theyr harts Who after that a certaine while they had séene mée so much deformed and altered from that I was wont to bée not wel pleased perhaps that I did not at the first frame my affections to their fancies disdayned now to looke at me and forsooke me saying The braue beautie of this Lady is gone and turned to a bleacke hew and the glory of her enflaming desires is nowe extincte Wherefore shall I hyde that from you fayre Ladies which dooth not onely gréeue mee to rehearse but generally all Women to heare I say therefore that although it was the greatest gréefe in the world to think that my Panphilus was not present for whose sake my then excellent beauty was most déere vnto me yet in such vpbraiding sort to heare that I had lost it it was no lesse then present death to my soule And besides all these things I remēber that béeing
day of all others best contented who abandoning the opulent and vicious Citties inhabyteth the priuate and peaceable woodes O what a worlde had it béene if Iupiter had neuer driuen Saturne a waie and if the Golden age had contynued styll vnder a chaste lawe because wée might all lyue like to our primitiue parentes of the first worlde Alas whosoeuer he be that dooth this day obserue the first and auncient riches euen he I say is not inflamed with the blynde rage of haplesse and helplesse Venus as I am nor he who hath resolued with hym selfe to dwell in Woodes hilles or dales was euer subiect to any carefull kingdome not to the wauering wynde of the vnconstant populare not to the suffrages oppinions and censures of the trothlesse common people not the infectious plagues and enuious pestilences nor to the frayle fauour also of blind and inconsiderate Fortune in all which my selfe hauing put to much trust looue and studie in the middest of the waters like Tantalus doo dye with endlesse thirste To little thinges great rest is aforded although it bee a harde matter without the greater to be able to sustaine the lyfe But he whose thoughts are turmoyled about great thinges or dooth desire to ouerrule great matters the same man I say dooth euermore followe the vaine honours of vading riches What they are that follow riches And highe styles and magnificent titles please for the most part false and deceytfull men But he is frée from feare and doubt and can not decerne of the malicious man swelling in rancour cancred enuie nor of the backbiter by his venemous tongue and viperous téeth who dwelleth in the simple and solitarie woodes and féelds And is also ignoraunt of the sundrie hatreds and incurable woundes of looue and the abhominable sinnes of the people committed one against an other in the Citties and liueth without feare of breach of lawes and cléere of suspicion to be guiltie of ryottes and mutinies and beateth not his branes to forge fayned tales and to vse deceitfull wordes which are notes to entrappe men of pure faith and playne dealing But the other while he is alofte is neuer without feare or perrill suspecting continually the verie same sword that he weareth by his side Oh how good a thing is it to resist naked and lying vpon the ground securelie to take his sustenaunce Neuer or seldome at all did capitall or great sinnes enter into little cotages At the first there was no care taken for golde nor the holy stone nor God Terminus was set a bounde or Arbyter to deuyde féeldes from féeldes and seueralles from commons With tall and stout shippes they plowed not the vnknowen waues of the Sea but euery one dyd knowe his proper coastes and bankes Nor with stronge piles of timber with déepe ditches high walles strong bulwarkes and rampires dyd they fortifie and compasse about the sides of theyr Citties nor cruell weapons and rustie armour were scoured vp and made readie to fight or borne of warriers in those daies neither had they any Enginnes or deuellishe deuises which with great pittie might ruinate stonie walles and breake Iron gates in péeces And if there was perhappes amongest them any little warre with naked brest and vnarmed arme they fought it out in which the broken bowes of trées and stones serued them for theyr weapons and pellets Nor the fine and light speare of horne was armed with Iron nor the stabbing dagger trenching sworde and murdering rapyer were gyrt to any of theyr backes or side Nor the bushy crest and prowd plume of colloured wauing feathers dyd adorne the glittering helmettes and that which in theyr happy daies was the happyest thing of all was that Cupid was not yet borne whereby the chast mynds violated afterwards with his poysoned dartes when he first began to flie with swifte winges thorowe the worlde might liue securely and frée from all tormenting thoughtes Ah I would the Gods had giuen mée to such a world the people whereof content with a little and fearing nothing followed onely their wilde and and sauadge appetites And that of so many great goods and felicities that they enioyed I had not possessed any other then not be molested with so gréeuous looue nor to féele so many smootheringe sighes as now I am do now féele then should I haue liued a more happy life then now I do in this present age ful of so many poisoned pleasures vnprofitable ornāents shadowed pompe Alas that the wicked furie of gaine auarice Mutations of ages that headlong and enraged wrath and that those mindes which of themselues kindled lothsome luste and voilated these first bondes so holy and easie to be kept giuen of nature her selfe to her people And that the thyrst after rule a bloodie Sunne came nowe in place and that the weaker became a pray to the greater and more mightie Sardanapalus came nowe in and first of all made Venus though of Semiramis it was made more dissolute more deintie and delicate and then to Bacchus and Ceres prescribed new orders and customes neuer knowen of them before Then came in also warlike Mars who found out newe sleights and a thousand mortall wayes to death And then al the world beganne to be contaminated with blacke goare and the Sea to be tainted with redde riuers of bloode running into it Then most wicked crymes entred into euerie one his house in bréefe there was no great or detestable sin perpetrated without some former and foule example before Brother killed brother the father the sonne and the sonne the father The husband lay slaine for the faulte and many times by the proper facte of his wife And wicked mothers destroyed daily their owne fruite The infinite crueltie and endlesse enuie of stepdames whych continuallie secréetelie or openlie they beare to their husbandes children I neede not to alleadge because theyr effectes are manyfestlie séene at all times and places Ritches therefore brought Pryde Auarice Lecherie Wrath Gluttonie Enuie and Slothe and euery other vyce with them Looue the worker of all mischefe And with these aforesayd Fiendes the Captayne and worker of all mischéefe and the onely artificer of all sinnes entred also dissolute and vnbrydeled Looue I meane by whose continuall sieges layde to myserable myndes infinite Citties ruinated and burnte doo yet smoake and for whome all nations haue made mortall vprores and doo yet broyle in the lamentable and endlesse warres And the ouerwhelmed and drowned kingdomes by his cruell tyrannie doo yet oppresse many people And concealing all his other execrable effectes let those onely which hée vseth towardes mée suffise for a manyfest example of his mercilesse mischéefe and crueltie which doo so sharpely enuironne me on euery side that I cannot turne my minde to no other thing but onely to the gréeuous obiectes of hys immanitie Discoursing thus with my selfe sometimes I thought that that which I dyd was wicked in the sight of the iust Gods and
lifted vppe my heade which nowe I did not caste rounde about as I was wont to doo assuredly knowing that my Panphilus was not there nor to sée if any other or of whom I was behelde or if the standers by gazed on my apparraile and ornaments as they were wont to doo but rather wholy intent and relying vppon the fauour of the supernal Gods to powre forth some pittifull prayers for my Panphilus for his happy returne calling vppon them with these words I saide O most gracious gouernours of high Heauen The end of one sorowe is the beginning of another and generall Iudges of all the worlde sette nowe some stint and measure to my gréeuous paines and prescribe an ende to all my sorrowes You sée I haue not one merry howre nor quiet day since that in continued course the ende of one sorrowe is the beginning of another But that sometimes I accounted my selfe happy not knowing my miseries to ensue First with vaine labour to beautifie my yong and vnripened yéeres more then was requisite sufficiently adorned of nature it selfe hauing vnwéetingly offended you for pennaunce satis-faction of such faults ye haue of indissoluble and cruell loue which dooth at this very instant torment me made mee a miserable thrall and captiue And you haue afterwards filled my minde not accustomed to troubles and sorrowes by meanes of that with newe auoyding cares And lastly haue deuided him frō mée whom I loue more then my selfe whereuppon infinit perrilles are growne one after another in preiudice of my poore life But if the prayers of miserable creatures sometimes penetrate your diuine eares then pittifully encline them to my petitions and not regarding the multitude of the faults which I haue committed against you let that little good if euer I did any be bountifully considered of you and in guerdon of it fauourably giue eare to my zealous orysons and graunt my earnest requestes which as they are but easie for you to performe so may you by not denying me the same giue me most great content and make mée happy againe Alas howe wel doo I knowe that this prayer in the sight of you most iust Iudges is very vniust but it must néedes procéede from your iustice that of two euils to wish the lesse and to preuent the greater it is the safest and best counsell To you therefore from whom nothing is hid it is manifest that my beloued Panphilus by no meanes can slyde out of my minde nor those passed accidents out of my memory the remēbrance of whom and of which doth many times wyth gryping gréefes bring me to such a poynt that to be ridde of them I haue eftsoones desired a thousand maners sought as many meanes of death all which that little hope which remaineth for mee in you hath forciblye taken out of my hands If it be therefore a lesser euill to kéepe my Louer stil as I haue doone then to destroy my wicked soule with my massacred body as I beléeue it is let him returne and be restored to me againe Let liuing sinners be déerer to you and possible to returne to you again then the dead dying in their sinne and without hope of redemption And vouchsafe rather to léese a parte of your creature then the whole which you haue created And if this be too great too much to be graunted let that which is the last end of all miseries before that with deliberate and voluntarye counsell constrayned with greater gréefes I take it of my selfe be granted to me Let my wordes come before your sight whom Miserable creatures require death if they can not mooue to pitty then you other Gods dwelling in the celestiall regions if there bee any of you there who sometimes liuing heere beneath haue had tryall of that amorous fire which I féele receiue them and offer them vppe to those higher powers who will not take them vttered by my vnworthy mouth so that obtayning grace for me I may first liue héere ioyfully and after the end of my dayes enioye part of your glorious fruition and before time to shew sinners that it is a good and conuenient thing for one sinner to pardon and helpe another These words béeing spoken I did put swéete odours and incense vpon their Aulters with many other rich offerings to make them more willing and ready to bend downe theyr eares to my prayers and for Panphilus his helpe Which ceremonies after they were ended departing from thence with the rest of the Gentlewomenne I returned to my sorrowfull lodging againe Finis ⧠The fift Booke of Maister Iohn Boccace his Fiammetta AS by those thinges which I haue spoken of before you may presume euen so pittiful Ladies hath my loathed life béene assaulted in the cruell battailes of Loue and yet is tossed euery day vppon more sharpe mortall pykes of iealosie The which certes considering my future estate might iustly be thought a pleasaunt peace and pastime My selfe also béeing stroken with feare when it came to my remembraunce with feare I say of that to the which point it did last of all transport mee and which dooth yet almoste possesse me to make the more delay to come to it because I was ashamed of my owne fury and because in wryting of it me thought I reentred into it againe deducting therefore my discourse in length with a slowe hande I haue wrytten and published those thinges vnto you which were lesse gréeuous vnto me but béeing not able nowe to auoide these nor to flie to them any more the order of my narration drawing me on I will though fearefully come vnto it But thou most holie pittie dwelling in the tender breastes of delicate yong Gentlewomen gouern thy raynes in thē with a stronger hande then thou haste doone hetherto because in discurring this my doleful narration and giuing thée a great deale more scope then is precisely conuenient I might not perhaps turne thée into the contrary of that which I doo séeke and hope for and so might take as it were from the laps of these Ladies and Gentlewomen that reade thée their flowing and falling teares The Sun was nowe turned another time into that parte of the Heauens where the presumptuous Sonne was sette on fire when so rashly hee guided hys fathers Chariott after that Panphilus departed from mee And I miserable woman had nowe by long vse learned to suffer accustomed gréefes and I lamented more temperately with my selfe then I was wont to doo and beléeued that there were no more woes lefte for mee to sustaine then those which I had all readie endured when enuious Fortune not content with my passed myseries dyd sodainely shewe mée that she had yet more bitter poyson to infect my afflicted soule withall It came therefore to passe that one of my déerest seruantes returned from Panphilus his countrie hether When Fortune dooth beginne to shewe her selfe contrarie then she goes encresing euer her spight who was of all that knewe
of my loouing heart and engrafted him false woman in thine And yet I knowe that it is so But with such content and so mayest thou looue and liue I wishe as thou hast made me to doo And if perhappes it be to hard for him to fall in looue the third time then let the Goddes deuide your looues no otherwise then they did dissolue the Grecian Ladies and the Iudges of Ida or as they did disseuer that of the young man of Abydas and of his vigillant and sorrowfull Heroe or as they did breake of those of the miserable Sonnes of Eolus bending their sharpe iudgement onelie against thée he himselfe remaining safe O naughty woman thou must néedes haue thought viewing wel his come lie face that hée was not without some Lady and loouinge Mistresse If thou dyddest therefore suppose this which I knowe thou diddest imagine with what minde diddest thou practise to take that away which appertained to an other with an enuious and fraudulent minde I am sure Wherefore I will as my mortall enemie and wrongfull occupier of my goodes pursue thée euermore and as long as I liue will nourishe and preserue my life with hope of thy shamefull and cruell death Maledictions of anen amoured woman The which I wishe may not be so common and naturall as to others it is but that tourned into a lumpe of massie leade or Ixions heauie stoane tyed about thy necke thou maiest bee cast into some déepe and darke caue amongest the middest of thy enemies murdering handes and that neyther fier or funerall be graunted to burne and burie thy torne and massacred members but béeing pulled in péeces and scattered abroad they may serue to glutte the hungrie mawes of howling dogges and rauenous woolues Which I pray after they haue deuoured thy softe and tender flesh may for thy naked bones fiercelie iarre and cruellie fight one with an other so that gréedelye gnawing and breaking them in péeces with their whetted téeth they may liuely represent thy wicked praie and thée delighted with thy gluttonous rapine which in thy detested life time thou diddest fowlie committe There shall not escape one day not one night no not one hower but my readie mouth shal be full of endlesse curses Sooner shall the Celestiall Beare plumpe downe into the Ocean and the raging waues of Sicilian Caribdis shal be quiet and the barking Dogges of Scylla shal holde their peace and ripe Corne shall growe in the waues of the Ionian sea and the darkest night in her chéefest obscuritie shall shine like Titan his beames and water with fire death with life and the Sea with windes shall sooner with breachlesse faith bée at turce and make concorde togeather before I will reconcile and establishe a péece with thée vile monster of woman kinde But rather whilest golden Ganges shal be hote and Istrus colde and while highe hilles shall beare sturdie Okes and the softe and watred medowes gréene grasse so long foule brothell will I bée at continuall warre and defiaunce with thée which neyther mortall hatred nor death shall determine but pursuing thée amongest the deade gostes and fiendes of Hell with all those tormentes that are vsed there I wyll continuallie plague and eternally punishe thy damned soule for thy condemned and hatefull déede But if perchaunce thou doost suruiue mée whatsoeuer the manner of my death shal be and wheresoeuer my miserable Ghost shall wander from thence perforce I will labour to take it and entring into thy lothsome bodie wyll make thée as madde as the Virgins after they had receiued Apollo Or else comming in thy sight broade wakinge thou shalt sée mée in a most horrible shape and in thy fearefull sléepe oftentymes will I awake The virgins that is the deuiners and afright thée in the vncomfortable silence of the darke night And bréefely in whatsoeuer thou goest about or doost I will continually be a horrible obiecte to thy wicked eyes and a griping corsiue to thy hellishe heart and then remembring this cruell iniurie I will not suffer thée to bée quiet in any place And so long as thou lyuest with such a hideous furie my selfe the onelie worker of it thou shalt be continually haunted And when thou arte deade I wyll minister occasions of more dirie stratagems vnto thy miserably ghost Alas poore wretched that I am to what end are my botlesse words prolonged I barke and threatē thou doost bite hurt me and enfolding my beloued Panphilus betwéene thy vnworthy armes doost care as much for my menacing and offensiue wordes as high and mightie kings for their inferiour and impotent vassailes and no more then conquering Captaines for their confounded captiues Alas would I had now Dedalus hys arte or Medeas Cotche because making wings by the one for my shoulders and being caryed in the ayre by the other I might sodainely alight there where thou doost basely hide and nestle thy selfe with thy stolen loone O how many thundering wordes and what threatning inuectiues with bended browes would I cast out against that false youth and against thée vniust robber of an others felicitie O with what villanous termes would I reprehend your detestable follies And after that I had amazed appaled and attainted your wicked faces with a shamefull blush with recitall of these vnshamefull faultes I would then without delay procéede to sharpe reuenge and taking thy haire false enchauntresse in my handes with pulling and renting them and drawing thée héere and there by thy tresses before thy perfidus loouer I would glutte my swelling anger and tearing thy garmentes from thy disgraced body with reprochfull tauntes I would triumphe ouer thée mall apart and wicked traytresse Nor this should not suffise mee to fulfill my due anger nor be halfe enough for thée to expiate thy odious crime but with sharpe nayles I would disfigure that painted visarde which so much pleased his false eyes leauing an eternall memoriall of their caracters and reuenge in it And thy miserable body with my gréedy téeth péece-meale I should shyuer leauing the which afterwardes vnto him that dooth nowe flatter thée to heale againe my selfe ioyfull for parte of so small vengeaunce would hie me home againe to my sorrowfull habitacles Whylest I spake these wordes with fyrie sparkeling eyes with closed téeth and with bended fist as though I had béene at the very action it selfe I remained a prettie while silent and me thought I had indéede played one Pagent of my gréedy reuenge But the olde Nurce with mournefull voyce lamenting sayde thus vnto mée O daughter since thou doost now know the furious tyrannie of this passion which thou callest thy God who dooth this molest thée temperate thy selfe and bridle thy pittious complaintes And if the due pittie which thou shouldest take of thy owne selfe dooth not mooue thée héereunto The care of her honour must warne euery wise woman frō vaine thoughts deedes let the regarde of thy honour perswade thée to it which for an olde
that thou treadest on Whose sundry kinds of delightfull seruices and swéete pleasures shall so by little and little driue him out of thy remembraunce as hee hath for loue of his new Gentlewoman banished thee perhaps out of his memory Iupiter laugheth at these promised faithes and solemne oathes whē they are broken And whosoeuer doth vse one but according as he is vsed himselfe what canne the worlde speake or thinke of any more then the deserts of such an one did require To kéepe faith with one that hath broken hys is reputed now adaies but méere mockerye and to requite deceits with deceits is estéemed no small poynt of wisedome Medea forsaken of Iason entertayned Egeus And Ariadne forsaken of Theseus got Bacchus for her Husband and so were their mournings turned into myrth Temperate therefore thy gréefes suffer thy paines patiently because thou hast not any occasion to be sorrowful more for another then to be pittifull towards thy selfe And whensoeuer thou wilt thou shalt finde oportunitie enough to make thē cease considering that the same and greater gréefes then thyne were sometimes sustained and passed away by others greater and more noble personages then thy selfe For Deianira was forgottē of Hercules for Iole and Phillis of Demophoon and Penelope of Vlisses for Circe And all their tormēts and passions were greater then thine by how much the heate of their loue was greater and more feruent then thine And so much the more if their diuine essence immortall powers and the hautie condition of those notable men and Women are well considered and yet they suffered them In these disgraces therfore thou art not alone nor the first And those aduersities in the which patients haue company Greese is lesse hurtfull when one hath company in it are not so gréeuous and painefull to them as thou thy selfe dooest say Wherefore bee merry againe and expell these vaine cares admonishing thée to haue before thine eyes a continuall doubt and feare of thy déere Husband and of his iust anger and yet vnconceiued iealosie to whose eares if perhappes these follies as néedes they must at laste shoulde come admitte as thou saist that he could giue thée no other nor no lesse punishment then death the very same for as much as one can die but once ought euerye one when his howre is come and when he can to take it in the best sorte and order he may And thinke that if that kind of death which in thy rage angrye moode thou dooest so quickly so wickedly desire should followe and happen vnto thée with what greate infamy and euerlasting shame should thy liuing memorye thy déere honour thy good name and thine honestye suruiue and remaine for euer after blotted and ignomiously obscured Worldly thinges shoulde bee vsed not as troublesome substaunces but as transitory shaddowes Wherefore from henceforce let neither thy selfe nor any other put any affiaunce in them whether they haue a prosperous or preposterous issue nor yet throwne downe in aduersitie let not any of the otherside dispayre of the best Clotho mingleth these and those things together and forbiddeth that Fortune bée stable and constant and chaungeth euery fate None had euer the Goddes so fauourable to their willes that they might presentlye binde them vnto them or coulde at any time haue them tyed to their affections For they prouoked by the guilt of our sins turne our affaires topsye turuy and Fortune againe helpeth those that be valiant couragious and stoute minded reiecting those that are pusillanimous fearefull doubtfull in their enterprises And now it is time to prooue if vertue haue any place in thée Admitte that at al times it may neuer be remooued though oppressed with darke clowdes of aduersities and darkned with blacke tempests of mis-fortune it is oftentimes choaked and lyeth secrete and hydden Hope also hath this property annexed to it that it is not a guide to afflictions nor sheweth any way to gréefe or sorrow Wherefore hee that may hope in anye thing let him dispayre of nothing Wee are tossed with the fluctuant waues of our destinies and those thinges beléeue me that they prepare for vs cannot with so light care with so small regarde or with so soone labour bee chaunged The greater part almost of that which we mortall generation eyther doo or suffer commeth from the heauens aboue Lachisis dooth kéepe a decréed Lawe to her Distaffe and doth draw forth euery thing by a limitted way The firste day she giueth thée is the last neyther is it lawful to wrest determined things and wrought aboue with the influences of the Planets to an other course It hath hurt many to be afraid of an inmoouable order and many also in not fearing the same Because while these are a fearing their owne destinies the very same are already befallen to thē vnawares Leaue therefore thy gréefes and sorrowes which voluntarilie thou hast procured and liue ioyfully putting thy hope in the Gods and endeuour to doo well because it hath often times come to passe that when one doth think himselfe furdest from felicitie then with an inopinate steppe he is suddainly entred into it Many Shippes securely sayling thorow the déepe and wide Seas haue béene offentimes cast away in the mouth of the wyshed Hauen And some againe dispayring altogether of succour haue in the selfe same day and daunger yea suddainly arriued to the desired ende of their long voyage And I haue séene many trées smittē with Iupiters scorching lightnings and in fewe dayes after again couered ouer with gréene leaues and loaden with goodly fruite And some againe cherished with great care by some secrete and suddaine accident withered quite away Fickle Fortune doth yéelde sundry effects for as she hath béen the instrument of thy long gréefe so if by hope thou doost nourish thy life shee wyll likewise minister to thée manie occasions wholsome meanes of double ioy againe And nowe she helde her peace But as many times as she perceiued me distracted into these vnwonted and extreamest passions so did the sage Nurce vse these spéeches towardes mee thinking with her selfe to driue these irremoouable gréefes and obstinate anguish out of my minde reserued onely for the full consumation of my death But none or fewe of her graue counselles did touch my troubled mind with effect and the greatest part of them spent in vaine vanished away in the ayre And my sorrowfull soule did euery day more sensibly féele more gréene and gréeuous wounds Wherfore lying many times vpright vpon my rich bedde with my face couered betwéene mine armes I imagined diuers great matters and strange things in my troubled minde And now I will begin pittifull Ladies to tell of most cruell thinges and not credible almost to be hatched in the breast of a simple Woman They that loue vnfortunatly doo often times think to kil them selues if the sequell of these or greater then these were not séene afterwards to come to passe My harte béeing therefore
but euery part of the same ouercome with quaking feare did not suffer me but I fell suddainly downe againe not once but thrise vpon my face in which occurrant I felt a fierce warre betwéene my angry soule and my timorous and vitall spirits which by maine force did kéepe it still that faine would haue flowen away But my soule at last ouercomming them and driuing away colde feare from me suddainly kindled me with a hote and burning dollour and so I recouered my wandred forces againe And yet my face morphewed with the pale colour of death I violently rose vppe and as the sturdy Bull hauing receiued some mortal pricke fiercely runneth vppe and downe beating and tormenting him selfe euen so hellish Tesiphon gadding madly vp and downe before myne eyes made me like a frantick and mad Woman and not knowing mine owne fancies cast my selfe from the bedde vpon the grounde and ledde by this infernal féende I did runne towards the stayres that went vp to the highest part of the house And hauing in a trice leaped out of the Chamber with most extreame lamentations and carelesse lookes viewing euery part of the house at last wyth a hollow and féeble voice I sayd O most vnluckie lodging vnto me remaine thou héere for euer and make my fall manifest to my Louer if euer hee returne againe And thou Oh déere Husbande comfort thy selfe and from hence forwarde séeke out a newe wyfe but a more wyse louing and more loyall mate thē Fiammetta hath béene vnto thée O my déere Sisters Parents and all the reste of my other companions and fréendes wyth all ye my faithfull Seruaunts lyue yée héere styll with all the fauoure that the Goddes may affoord you The goodnes of God oftentimes doth not suffer wicked determinations to come to effect Thus like a madde Woman with sorrowfull words I did hasten to my wicked ende But the olde Nurce as one by some suddaine feare awaked out of a slumber careleslye leauing of her worke at the whéele greatly amazed at the sight of this spectacle lifted vppe her aged body and crying as loude as euer she could made poste haste to followe mee who with a horce voyce and scarcely vnderstoode of me said O daughter whether doost thou run what madde fury dooth driue thée forwarde Is this the fruite that my wordes as thou saydst by the receiued comfort of them did put in thy breast Whether goest thou Tarry for me alas Afterwardes with a lowder voyce she yet exclaimed O yée yong menne and seruaunts of the house come come quickly take away this fonde Woman and kéepe her backe from her furious actions and desperate intent Her vociferations were of no force and their hast lesse spéedie And me thought I had Mercury his winges fastened to my shoulders and that swifter then Atlanta nay then any wynde I did flye to my violent death But of vnexpected chaunces appending as well to good as to wicked purposes one alas was an occasion to make me still enioy this lothsome life Because my long garments wauing and blowne abroade with the force of my hasty flight and fréendly enemies to my furious pretence my selfe also not able to refraine my course were fastened I know not howe to a shyuered poste by the wall as I was running and interrupted my swift passage which for all the striuing and pulling that I could doo did not suffer me to leaue any péece of them behinde me Wherefore whilst I was labouring to vndoo them the sorrowful Nurce breathlesse and panting came vppon me to whom I remēber with taynted chéekes full of burning anger and with outragious outcryes I said O miserable olde woman pack from hence in an euill howre if thy life bee déere vnto thée Thinking to helpe me thou doost hinder me in not permitting me to execute this last mortall duety resolued therevnto and spurred on with an eager desire to cut in sunder the webbe of all my woes Because whosoeuer dooth let one from dying that is disposed desirous and resolued to die Who doth hinder one that is disposed to die he himselfe doth kill him doth no lesse then kill him himselfe Wherfore thou art now become my homicide thinking to deliuer me from death and like the greatest enemy to my quiet rest doost endeuour with thy thanklesse office to prolong my sorrowes My tongue exclaimed and my hart burned wyth ire and yet thinking to haue loosed my garments in hast I dyd entangle and fasten them more and more which as soone as I had founde out the way to vndoo I was immediatly helde and staied by the noise of the clamorous Nurce so that by her féeble forces and hanging vpon me I was greatly disturbed of my purpose But vnwynding my selfe at last out of her handes her strength had profited her nothing at all if the yong Seruants and Women at her continuall exclamations had not come running from euery part of the house and force perforce had not stayed me Out of whose handes with much strugling and diuers frisks and with greater forces also the desire of death adding strength to my mighty wyll I thought to haue vngrappled my selfe but breathles at the last and ouercome by them I was carryed backe againe to my Chamber which once I thought neuer to haue séene againe How many times alas with lamentable and bitter spéeches did I chyde them saying O vile and base Seruants what boldnes is this that makes you so mallepart and what precipitate presumption is this that mooues you so rudely and so roughly to handle her whom you should reuerence and contrary to your duety thus violently to lay hands and grype your Mistresse to whom you should be most obsequious and of whose welfare you should be most carefull and at whose will and pleasure you should be most dilligent and ready What kind of furie madde wretches hath enspyred you to this rash dealings And thou wicked Nurce the cruell example and meane of all my miserable gréefes yet to come why hast thou repugned my last desseignes Why dooest not thou knowe that in procuringe and helping forwarde my death thou haddest doone me a greater pleasure and a better turne then in with-holding me from it Wherefore let this miserable part be playd and let the ende of my tragical life be duely accomplished by me and if thou louest me as I thinke thou dooest leaue mee to mine owne wyll leaue me I say to mine owne selfe to represent the last pagiaunt of my dolefull life And if thou art so pittifull and carefull ouer me as thou shewest employe thy piety and studie in sauing my doubtful fame and honor which after my death shal stil suruiue Because in this péece of simple seruice with which thou doost nowe hinder me thy practise payne and néedelesse labour shall proue at length but vaine For doost thou thinke to take from me those sharp tooles and cruell poynados wyth which I will at last broche this miserable hart of myne and
to know of my passed and preuented perilles for his sake because these are moste true arguments of my vndoubted loue and faith and I can scarce thinke otherwise but that he hath taried so long and to none other ende but onely to prooue if with a constant minde I coulde without forgetting him attend his comming againe Behold therefore and with what force of minde I haue expected him Wherefore from hencefoorth when hee shall perceiue wyth what paine teares and with how many millions of martyring thoughts I haue looked for him loue shall be borne anewe againe in him and no other God Ah when shall it come to passe that hée béeing once arriued shall sée me and I him againe God seeth all things O yée Goddes which from your high thrones contemplate all thinges héere beneath may I temper and moderate my eager desire from embracing his bodie before all men as soone as I shall sée him Truelie I beléeue I shall hardlie doo it O bounteous Gods when shall it bee that enfolding him straightly betwéene mine armes I shall render him treble againe those kisses which at his departure hee gaue to my dying lyppes without any exchaunge for them againe Certes the presage which I noted that I was not able to bidde him farewell is nowe true and by that the Gods haue verie well declared to me his returne O yée gracious Gods when will that time come when I may ioyfully recount vnto him the Seas of salt teares and the worldes of woes which I haue passed and worne out and when shall I knowe the occasion of his long and sorrowfull absence shal I liue so long Alas I scarcely think it Ah let that day come quicklie because death not long since so often called and procured of me doth nowe terrify mee which if possiblye my prayers can enter into his eares I humbly beséech that flying farre from me he would let mee spende the remainder of my yong yéeres in ioy and pleasure with my beloued Panphilus I was therefore verie carefull that no day shold passe me wherein I did not employe my whole study and diligence to bee verie inquisitiue of Panphilus his returne and to heare also of some true newes of him And my déere Nurce was not negligent in séeking out the yong Gentleman bringer of these glad tidings because she might with more surenes be acertained of that which she had tolde mée which thing she did not only once but as often times as cōueniently she could and as many times as she had doone before she did alwaies bring mee worde that his returne was nigh at hand Wherfore I did not onely expect the promised time but procéeding a little further I did imagine it possible that he was now come And therfore a hundred times in the day I did runne sometimes beneath to the dore sometimes to the windowe looking round about me a great way if I might perceiue him come And I sawe not any manne comming a farre of that way that he should come but I dyd verilie imagine that it was he and with great desire didde looke on him so long vntill cōming néerer vnto me I might easily perceiue that it was not he Whereat béeing somewhat gréeued in minde I looked out to sée if any other came and sometimes one and now another passing by and séeing that none of them was hee I remained my gréedy desire and hope deceiued ful of confusion and very angry with my selfe And if I was perhaps called into the house or els by some other vrgent occasion went from the windowe a hundred thousand thoughts as if a multitude of dogs grinding their téeth at me had bittē my soule did sting and molest me saying to my selfe Alas euen now perhaps he goeth by or els is already passed whilst thou art héere busied about not so contented an office and immediatly I went againe to sée if I coulde sée him come Reade Ariosto of her that attended the returne of her Louer making it but a short time betwéene going downe to the dore and running quickly vp to the window againe Ah poore soule and wretched Woman how much sorrow and how many troubles diddest thou sustayne for him whom howrely looking for thou couldest neuer perceiue to come But after that the day was come in which my Nurce told mee that he should arriue and of the which she had so often foretold me I adorned my selfe no otherwise then Alcmena did when she heard that her Amphitrio was at hande and wyth my mastering hand left not any thing in me vnbeautified but sette forth in the best and brauest order and in the finest fashion And I coulde scarce kéepe my selfe in from going to the Sea syde because I myght the sooner see hym because also I hearde certaine newes of the arriual of those Gallies in the which my Nurce vnderstood and certified me that he should come But thinking with my selfe that the first Saint that he would visite on shoare was my selfe I therefore bridled my earnest and hote desire But in fine as I rightlie gesse he came not at all whereuppon I beganne beyonde all measure to meruaile and in the middes of my late ioye arised in my minde diuers kinds of doubtes which were not so easilie ouerthrowne by superficicall suppositions of his comming or by any other shaddowes of glad some thoughts After a little while therefore I sent the old Woman to know what was become of him and whether he was come or not who went as it séemed with such an vnwilling minde and with as flow a pace which did diuine of some consequent and sorrowfull tydinges Wherefore I accursed many times with my selfe and with greate anger blamed her crooked steppes and aged paces Who staying but a little time abroade came to me againe with a sorrowfull chéere and dull gate Signes of one that bringeth ill newes Alas when I sawe her come in this sort I could hardlie containe my soule in my bodie and therefore suddainly imagined that my Louer was deade by the way or els that hee was arriued verie sicke The colour of my face chaunged a thousande times in one instant and going to méete the dreaming Nurce I saide vnto her Tel me quickly what newes doost thou bring Doth my Louer liue Shee chaunged not her gate nor answered me one word And béeing nowe entred into my Chamber and setting her selfe downe looked me very pittifullie in the face Wherefore euerie parte of my bodie being shaken like the tender Aspen leaues by some soft winde I did beginne nowe to tremble and hardly restraining my teares I crossed myne armes and did put my hands into my sorrowfull bosome saying If thou doost not tell me quickly what this thy sorrowfull countenaunce doth meane and what these sadde signes which thou doost bring with thée doo signify there shall not any part of my garments remaine whole to my body nor hayre vntorne from my head What secrete occasion therefore may it be
that mooueth thée from telling it but onelye that which I feare will prooue ominous vnto mee Conceale it no longer but declare it whilst I am attending for worse What tell me at a worde liueth my Panphilus She pricked on by my angrie wordes and threatnings with a lowe voice and looking downe to the grounde saide Hee lyueth Then said I againe wherefore doost thou not tell me quicklie What enuious accidents stay him from cōming hether Why doost thou hold me in suspence and wauering amidst a thousand fearefull surmises Is he sicke with any malladie Or what froward occasion doth with-holde him that beeing come out of the Gally he doth not come to sée me Then shée said I knowe not whether want of health or any other mischaunce doth detaine him Then said I againe hast thou not séene him or is he not yet come I haue séene him sayd she and he is come but not the same whom we did expect Howe art thou sure said I that he is not my Panphilus Hast thou séene him at any other time and didst thou nowe behold and marke him well Truelie said she I did neuer sée him that I wote of but béeing euen nowe broughte vnto him by that yong Gentleman who tolde me the first newes of hys returne and telling him that I had oftentimes enquired for him he asked me what I would with him His health and welfare said I. And I demaunding of him how his old Father did and in what estate the rest of his thinges stood and what was the cause of his long staying since his departure he answered that he neuer knewe his Father and that hée was a posthumus borne Posthumus is he that is borne after his Fathers death and that all his thinges were in good plight and that he had neuer béene héere before and did meane to stay héere but a small time These thinges made me to wonder and doubting least I was deceiued I asked him his name which curteously and plainly he tolde me and I no sooner hearde it but immediatly I perceiued by the identity and likenes of it with the name of thy beloued Panphilus both thée and my selfe to be greatly deceiued When I hearde these thinges most pittifull Ladyes mine eyes forsooke their lights euery sensitiue spirit for feare of death Effectes of a suddaine passion went their wayes and falling downe in the place where I satte there remained no more force in my body then was scarce able to breathe forth one poore alas Which when the miserable olde Woman perceiued lamenting greatly and calling the rest of my Women about mee caryed mee like a dead woman to my bedde and there labouring to reduce my wandering spirits with colde water beléeuing a great while together to recouer life and yet misdoubting al so the same they watched me with diligent care But after that my forsaken forces came to me againe and after I had powred foorth many teares and sighes I asked the sorrowfull Nurce an other time if it were so as she had sayd And besides this remembring with my selfe howe warye and discrete Panphilus was wont to bee and suspecting that hee had wisely and of purpose made himselfe vnknowne to the Nurce with whom he had neuer talked in his life before I wylled that she should describe vnto me the countenaunce the feyture the gesture the personage and the fashions of that Panphilus with whom she had talked But shee affyrming first with an oath that it was no lesse and no otherwyse then she had tolde me declared to mee afterwardes in order his stature the lineaments of his body face and last of all the manner of his apparrell All which alas made mee gyue too great faith to that which the olde woman told me Wherefore thruste of from all hope I reentred into my former woes and rysing vppe like a franticke Woman I pulled of my sumptuous garments of ioy and layd aside my once déere but now vnpleasant ornaments and my friseled shyning hayre with an enuious Hecuba hand I tore out of order and did carelesly ruffle them together and despysing all comfort I beganne most bitterly to complaine of my incessant and miserable mishaps and with cruell wordes to condemne my failed hope and to blame the good thoughts and like concealed opinions of my vntrue and wycked Louer And in bréefe I returned wholy to my olde life of myseries and hadde a more earnest and feruent desire of death then before which I had not escaped Hope doth still keepe one in life as yet I haue but that the hope of my intended voyage with no little force with-helde me from performaunce of it The ende of the sixt booke ⧠The seuenth Booke of Maister Iohn Boccace hys Fiammetta IN this kinde of lyfe therefore most pittifull Ladies I haue remained as by the recounted and passed accidents you may geather And by how much my vngratefull Lord dooth sée my hope fly from me by so much the more dooth he worke stranger effects in me then he was wont to doo and blowing with more hot desires the glowing coles of looue in my smothered breast dooth make them greater then before which as on the one side they doo mightilie encrease so are my paines and sorrows on the other by like proportion augmented Which neuer béeing with due oyntment asswaged of me are by my own will and follies made more gréeuous and insupportable And béeing more sharpe doo more afflicte my sorrowfull and woefull minde And I doubt not but following theyr headlong course they will at length with some honest meane open mee the way of death which heretofore I haue so long and vnfainedly desired But yet hauing my assured hope as I haue alreadie sayd in my pretended voyage to finde and sée him ah that vngratefull Panphilus I meane who is the originall of all this I did not séeke to mittigate them but was rather now resolued as wel as I could constantly to endure them For performaunce of which I found out one onely possible way amongst many others To resemble ones paine with an others greefes is a lightning of sorrowe which was to compare and measure my paines with theirs who had likewise passed suche bruntes as my selfe fighting vnder the amorous ensignes and in the dollorous battayles of looue Wherof I thinke to reape a double commodity First in knowing my selfe not the first nor to be alone afflicted with misery as not long since my Nurce in her alleaged comfortes told me Secondly that euery gréefe payne and pange of their looue being in my iudgement sufficiently recompenced I determined and resolued with my selfe to passe away euer after with my former euery other gréefe whatsoeuer which I recken no little glory to me when I may say that I am onely she that liuing hath sustained more gréefe and misery then any other woman And with this kinde of glorie forsaken yet of euery one as extreame misery indéede and of my selfe alas if I could
with some sodaine death ended my loathed life so that by these meanes I might haue deliuered my selfe from these paines and sorrowes as she dyd her selfe which afterwardes by defaulte thereof dyd continually cleaue in sunder my afflicted hart After these miserable thoughtes and the ruthfull chaunces of vnhappy Heroe of Sesto came to my minde whome mee thought I sawe comming downe from her highest Tower to the Sea bankes and rockes where she was wont sometimes to méete and receiue her welbelooued and wearied Leander into her armes And euen there againe mée thinks I se her with what a pittifull pale countenance she beheld her loouer lying dead before her Sorrow ceaseth when hope is past to regaine the thing which is lost driuē first on shore by a fréendly Dolphin al naked souced in brinish waters laid along vpon the Sea sands wiping with her garmentes the salte water from his pale visage and drowning hym the second time with the flowing streames of her swelling teares Ah what great pittie dooth her cruell passages finde in my sorrowfull mind More truelie then any of those of the foresayd ladyes and sometimes so much that forgetting my owne woes I did wéepe and lament for hirs And lastly cold I conceiue no meanes for her cōfort but one of these two either to die or else to forget him as other dead men haue béene In taking eyther of which her sorrowes I thinke might haue easilie béene finished Considering that no lost thing in recouering of which againe there is no hope lefte can gréeue vs any long time But yet the Goddes forbidde that this kinde of comfort should happen to me which if it did come to passe no counsel in such a case should auaile but that which perswaded me once to a resolute and hasty death For during the time that my Panphilus liueth whose lyfe his happie starres and predominante planettes preserue as long as he himself dooth desire that cannot I hope nor shall not befall vnto me But séeing the enter course of mundane thinges in continuall motion this beléefe is added to my hope that in the end or else perhappes before he shall returne and be mine againe as once he was which lingering hope not comming to effect dooth howerly make my life gréeuous and irkesome vnto mée And by thus much therfore I estéeme my selfe oppressed with greater sorrowe then she was I remēber that in French méeters to which if any credite may be lent I haue sometimes read that Sir Tristram and Lady Isotta haue more then any other loouers French Rimes mutually and feruentlie looued each other and with their chaunging delightes haue had great misfortunes and aduersities enter mingled euen in the floorishing and brauest time of theyr youth who because loouing greatly togeather they haue tasted both of one ende it séemes most credible that not without extreame sorrowe and bitter gréefe on bothsides they forsooke their worldly delightes Which may be easilie graunted if in abandoning this world they thought that in the other the same could not bée found or had But if they had this opinion that they were as ample and common in the other as they had in déede then it is to be thought that death had rather aforeded them some great content and ioy then any sorrow and feare at all For what certaintie of gréefe may one giue with testimonie of a thing which he neuer prooued None at all truely In Syr Tristram his armes was his owne death and the death of hys Lady also For if in embracing her body so straightly and loouingly it had gréeued her at all in opening his armes againe the payne no doubt had ceased And yet for all this let vs admit and say that it is by great reason most fearefull and gréeuous to tast of what gréefe can wée say to be absolutely in a thing that dooth come to passe but onely once and which dooth occupie but a little space of time Certes none Sir Tristram therfore Isotta in one hower ended their delightes dollours The continued time of my stretching gréefe and lasting sorrowe hath without comparison greatly excéeded the breuitie of my enioyed myrth and ioyes But amongest the number of these foresayd loouers my minde did thinke of miserable Phedra who with her voluntary and aduised furie was the occasion of his most cruel death whom she loued more then her selfe I knowe not truely what dammage great inconuenience did follow her of such a great fault but I am certaine if the like had euer happened to me there had bene nothing but violent death that might expiate the guilt therof but if she liued she buried him afterward in darck obliuiō as commonly all thinges as euen now I sayd are wont to bée forgotten by death And besides these sorowes which Laodamia Deiphyle Argia Euadne Deianira and many others felte followed hers in my scanning thoughts all which eyther by violent death or by necessary obliuion receiued some comfort at last Fier the lōger it remaineth in any thing the more it burneth And who doubteth that burning fire red hotte iron and melted leade dooth not gréeuously burne and scalde his finger who dooth but sodainely dippe it in and dooth quickly pull it out againe Why none I thinke And yet this is nothing to that extreame payne whose whole body is in eyther of these tormented and plunged for a good space togeather wherfore how many soeuer I haue described aboue in woes sorowes paynes the same may be said to be but a momentarie while in their superficiall and counterfeite gréefes whereas I haue really felt them continually béene in them and am not yet frée from them Wherefore all these foresayd woes in respect of mine haue béene but amorous annoyaunces But besides these miserable women the no lesse sorrowful teres powred forth of those who with the vnexpected brunts of cruell fortune haue béene confounded came before mine eyes And these are those of Iocasta Hecuba Sophonisba Cornelia and Cleopatra O how much myserie considering well the miserable successe of Iocastas looues doo we sée befallen vnto her in all her life time possible enough to haue daunted and troubled the most stout and strongest minde For she being very young was maried to Layus King of Thebes who commaunded that her first childe should be throwen out to be deuowred of wilde Beastes the miserable Father thinking by this to haue preuented that which the heauens and his ineuitable destinies with infallible course had prepared for him O what a gréefe must I néedes thinke that this was to her soule considering the degrée of her that sente it and that with her owne handes she was constrained to deliuer and to sende it to a cruell kinde of death and afterwardes certified by them that caried her vnfortunate infante of his mangled and deuoured corpes with what intollerable gréefe she beléeued that he was deade indéede And to see her haplesse Husband most miserably slaine of him
admirable Cittie the cruell death of so Princly a Husbande of so many renowned sons and most faire daughters to sée the destruction of so manie magnanimious Nephewes valiant Cosins and Allyes the rapine of so great riches the hauocke of infinite treasure the spoyle of so manie Virgins the rauishment of wiues and of all sorts of Women the extinction of such excellencie the losse of so many Kinges hewed and slaine right downe such blodie massacres and pittiful stratagemes of the dismayed and betrayed Troyans the impietie perpetrated in the Temples polluted battered and made plaine with the ground and the indignitie and irreuerence doone to their dishonoured chased Goddes And séeing her selfe to be olde and sorrowfully recalling to her wounded minde what mighty Hector was what valiant Troylus what doughtie Deiphobus what her yongest darling Polydore and the shyning vertues of manie noble men more and howe vnfortunatlie shee sawe them all die remembring also howe the generous bloode of her late mighty and maiesticall Husbande was cruelly shed in her own lappe before the holie Aulters and how she saw fatall Troy whilome reared vppe to the skyes with stately Towres famous for magnificent buildings full of princely Pallaces and very populous with noble and worthy Cittizens consumed with deuouring flames and wholy rased frō the earth And besides all this the pittifull sacrifice of her fayre Daughter Polyxena offered vppe by vnpittifull Pyrrhus to the shadow of Achilles Oh with what excessiue greefe and anguish of minde must we néedes thinke that shee behelde all these thinges But short was the sorrowe which her olde and féeble minde not able to endure the same wandering out of her right course made her madde as her barking complaints amiddes the fieldes and woods did plainely shew But I with a more firme and perfect memory then is néedefull for such woes to my great gréefe doo continually remaine in my sorrowfull and sound witts and doo discerne more and more the preposterous occasions of my present woes and of my future sorrowes Because my manyfolde harmes enduring longer then hers I thinke them be they neuer so light to be more gréeuous as I haue many times said then the greatest and most sensible paines which is ended in a short time Sophonisba equally participating the aduersities in her Widdowhoode Sophonisba and the ioy of her mariage in one selfe same moment almost of time iocande and sad an honorable and glad spouse and a poore prisoner inuested and despoyled of a Kingdome and finally in these shorte alterations of tottering Fortune drinking her fatall poyson full of anguishe and deadly gréefe appeareth next vnto my thoughts Behold her sometimes a most high and famous Quéene of the Numidians afterwards the martiall affayres of her Parents and fréends hauing but an aduerse and lucklesse issue her Husbande Siphax taken from her and become prisoner to Massinissa King of Marsilia warring vnder the Romaine Ensignes and her selfe in one howre depriued of her Kingdome and prysoner also in the mids of her enemies Campe Massinissa afterwardes making her his wife and she restored to the same againe O with what despight gréefe and bitter anguishe of mind doo I beléeue that shee sawe these thinges succéede abruptlie one after another Nor yet secure of her voluble and flattering Fortune with howe heauy a hart did shee celebrate her newe espousalles which gréefes and extreame myseries with a tragicall ende at last and with a stout enterprise she did fully finish Because not one naturall day after the nuptiall rytes béeing yet spent and scarcely thinking with her selfe that she remained in the regiment and that she did beare the former sway of Scepter and warring thus within her selfe and thinking of the newe loue of Massinissa not framed well to her minde the olde loue of Siphax béeing not yet extinct with no trembling hart but wyth a bolde hande receiued the mortiferous poysonne which her newe Husbande sent her by her owne Seruaunt the fearfull messenger of her vntimely death and with certaine dispitifull and premised spéeches without any signe and token of feare in her resolute face druncke of the same immediatly after yéelding vppe her ghost O how bitter may one imagine that her life was if she had had any longer time to meditate and think of her death that did followe Who therefore is not to be placed but amongst those Women To think of greefe maketh it greater who haue béene but meanely and not much afflicted with sorow considering that her spéedy death did preuent her beginning woes where as mine haue continued with me a long time together and yet doo accompanye me against my wyll and are sworne to remaine styll wyth me to make themselues more mighty thereby with their vnited forces to infest more their vsurped habitation After her doleful Cornelia oppressed with infinit sorrow was obiected to my musing thoughts Cornelia whō smiling Fortune had exalted so high to make her the first wife of Crassus and afterwards great Pompey his spouse whose worthy valor had almost gotten him the chiefest principality in Rome attayned to the sole gouernmēt of all the Empire annexed vnto it Who notwithstanding-after that frowning Fortune changed her copie in maner of a fugitiue fled miserably out of Rome and afterwards out of all Italy her selfe also with her husbande béeing fiercely pursued of conquering Caesar And leauing her in Lesboe after many turmoyles of inconstant fortune ouercomming his puissaunt competitour in Thessaly by whose discomfiture and ouerthrowe hee recouered hys force and might againe which not long since by his valiaunt enemy was greatly abated And besides all this with hope to reintegrate and to renue his power in the conquered East floting vpon the surging Seas and arriued in the kingdoms of Egypt offering himselfe voluntarily to the defence and trusty tuition of yong King Ptolomie béeing there cruelly doone to death she sawe his embrued and headlesse troncke tossed and beaten vpp and downe the raging waues Which things if euery one by it selfe or altogether be duely considered we must néedes say that without al compare they afflicted most gréeuously her dying soule But the sounde and comfortable counsell of the sage Vtique Cato and the lost hope in these instabillities of Fortune to regaine her Pompey againe in a little time mittigated nay rather adnihilated her former sorrowes wheras I styll nourished with vaine hope not able by any counsell or comfort to driue away the same but by the simple aduise of my olde Nurce equally knowing of my sorrowes from the beginning in whose hart I knewe good will more ryfe then wysedome rype in her heade because beleeuing oftentimes to remedy my gréefe shee hath redoubled them doo euermore remain liue cōsuming my selfe in bitter plaints and confoūded in a thousand doubts and anxieties of minde There are also many Cleopatra who I think doo beléeue that Cleopatra Quéene of Egypt did suffer intollerable gréefe and that her paines
errour passed may lightly be stained with a newe shame Or at least with-holde these complaintes and outcries least that thy loouing husband perceiue not the indirect causes of thy dolefull plaintes And so for two causes he might worthelie be sorie and agréeued at thy sencelesse follie Then being put in minde of my husbande and thinking of the wronge and shame I had doone him mooued with newe pittie I lamented more sensiblie then I did before and discussing in my minde my corrupted faith and the holie lawes of wedlocke violated I sayd O most faithfull companion in my troubles my husbande may be sorie for little or nothing For he which was the occasion of my offence hath béene a seuere purger of the same I haue long since receiued a guerdon and am yet payed with to seuere a rewarde for my demerites My husbande could not imagine to giue me any greater punishment then that which my late loouer hath afflicted me with all Onely death if death be painefull as it is commonly sayd my husbande may annex to my other tormentes Let hym then therefore come and giue it me quicklie It shal be no paine for me to die but a wished pleasure because I greatly desire the same And it shal be more acceptable and welcome to me performed by his owne handes whome so greatly I haue offended then perpretrated by any others or by my owne If he doo not giue me it or if it dooth not voluntarily come vnto mée my troubled wittes shall finde out some speedie passage to it because by meanes of that Diuers punishments of damned soules compared to the paines of a loouer I hope to conculde all my sorrowe at once Huge hell the last and extreamest punishment of damned miserable soules in the most tormenting place of all hath not any tortrue so forcible or equall with mine Auncient authors alleadge and bring in Titius for an example of great punishment saying that his encreasing liuer is continually becked and deuoured of a gréedy vulture And certes though I accounte his paine not little yet it is not like to mine For if the hungrie Vulture féede vpon his liuer a hundred thousand thousand gryping and stinging gréefes continually gnawe my heart more then sharpe billes of any praying Byrdes They likewise affirme that Tantalus placed béetwéene cléere water and goodlie fruite dooth euermore dye for hunger and thirst My selfe alas put in the middest and swimming in all mundane delightes with affectionate desire wishing my loouer and not enioying him doo sustaine as much nay rather greter paine then he Because with neuer ceasing hope hée thinkes sometimes to tast of these freshe waters and ruddie Apples that hang on euery side about him But I dispayring nowe altogeather of that which I once hoped would haue béene my comforte doo neyther sée nor can excogitate any ease for my gréefe and loouing him more then euer I did by the alluring forces of an other woman and of his proper accorde also is so kept backe that he hath not onely cast me quite out of his remembraunce but that by meanes thereof I am debarred to entertaine the smallest hope that may be of my welfare for euer after And miserable lx ion also turmoiling eternally at his vnruly whéele doth not féele such cruell paine that it may be likened to mine Because my selfe shaken with continuall motions of furious madnesse by my aduerse fates doo suffer much more gréefe then euer he can doo And if the daughters of Danaus with lost labour doo continually power water into tubbes full of holes thinking to fill them I straine forth greater plenty of teares by the ouerflowing conduites of my eies drawen frō the hollow caue center of my heart Wherefore doo I trouble my selfe to recite these infernal tortures by one and one since that there is heaped in me a greater Chaos of miseries then any there deuided or conioyned And if I had no other kinde of anguish to cruciate my miserable soule that I must of necessitie kéepe my dollours secret or at the least conceale and hide their ofspring whereas they with lowde voices carelesse spéeches publique actions conformable to their sorrowes might discouer and manifest theirs by so much the more should my paines be adiudged greater and more gréeuous then theirs For alas how strong the restreined fire and how more violently doth it burne then that which hath ful scope and no obstacle to exhalate and throwe his flames abroad And how gréeuous a thing it is not to be permitted to speake one word of extreame sorrowe that dooth sensibly torment one and that it is not lawful to tel the annoious occasion of it but vnder the shewe of a merry countenaunce it is conuenient to hide it in the secret closet of an impatient painfull hart Wherefore not extreame sorrow onely Death a lightning of sorrowe but externall death shal be a lightning of my gréefe Let therefore my déere husband come and in one houre let him reuenge himselfe and ridde me out of these paines Let his vnsheathed sworde open my miserable and naked brest and let him in one instant with plenty of my bloode pull foorth my sorrowing soule and dissolue my infinit heaped woes and as my vile wickednesse dooth deserue let him teare this hart the retainer of these vile iniuries the principal deceiuer of his true affections and the chéefest receiuer of his feined fréend and secrete enemy After that the Nurce did sée me hold my peace and beginne to wéepe bitterly with a milde and lowe voice she beganne to replie Oh déere daughter what meaneth this which so frantickly thou speakest Thy words are as vaine as thy conceits more foolish I haue séene being now an old womā many things which haue passed in this world and haue daily knowen the order course of many ladies gentlewomens loues And although I am not to be accounted my selfe amongst thē yet neuerthelesse haue I once felt the secret poisō of these amorous darts which are more gréeuous sometimes much more troublesome to thē of lower degrée and of poore condition then to the nobler and higher personages when as all the meanes and passages to the attaining of their desires and pleasures are stopped and cutte of from them that are néedie and poore Whereas they at theyr will and with their wealth may breake an open way to heauen And the which thou sayest to be almost impossible and so gréeuous vnto thée I neuer conceiued nor felt to bee halfe so painefull and nothing so harde as thou doost make it Which gréefe although it be indéede very great ought not for all that to worke such effectes in thée as to consume and waste thy selfe in such woes and thereby to séeke thy owne death which more rashlie and furiously then by anie good motion of wisedome or argument of reason thou doost wishe for I knowe well that burning anger procured by furie is blinded and careth not to couer it selfe nor dooth
brook any bridle and dooth admitte no reason and is not afraide of death but rather driuen on headlong and vrged of it selfe it resisteth the mortall prickes of sharpe swordes But if thou wouldest let this anger of it selfe waxe somewhat colder I doubte not but thy kindled follie should be made manifest to that temperate and cooled part And therefore good daughter with patience sustaine his great force and giue place to his furie Wherfore note my words a little and settle thy minde vpon the examples Weake comâ—â—rtes which I will propunde vnto thée Thou arte with incessaunt anguishe of minde most sorowfull if I haue well perceiued thy spéeches for the long absence of thy belooued youth gon from thée and for his faithlesse fidelity for the second looue of his newe choice And being agréeued at these perhappes vncertaine and vniust iniuries recknest no paine like vnto thine But certes if thou wouldest be so wise as I do wishe thée thou shalt for ease of all these painefull accidentes pondering well my words receiue an easie an effectuall remedy The young man whom thou loouest ought without all doubt according to the lawes ordinances of looue to looue thée againe as thou doost him if he doth not hée dooth very ill and yet there is no force to compell him thereunto since euery one may vse the benefitte of his owne liberty as it pleaseth him best If thou doost loue him greatly and so much that thereby thou doost endure greate paine hee is not therefore to bee blamed nor thou canst not iustly be agréeued with him therefore considering that thou thy selfe art the chiefest cause of this For mighty Loue al though he be a great Lorde and his forces are ineuitable could not for all that against thy will place thy Louer in thy hart Thy vagrant witt and idle thoughts were the firste originalles of thy loue which if thou haddest effectually opposed with thy might these sorrowfull euents had not happened vnto thée as now they haue doone but as one frée froÌ„ such vncouth passions thou mightest haue mooued him and all others as he disporting himselfe with his new loue as thou sayst dooth now make but a iest of thée It is therfore necessary since that thou hast submitted thy libertye to hys Lawe to gouerne thy passions according to his pleasures and since he thinks it best to be farre from thée that thou coÌ„tent thy selfe and not repine thereat If with teares hée dyd vowe entire faith vnto thée and promised thée to returne he did not vse any newe thing héerein but an olde and common tricke practised out of memorye and performed euery day of most Louers And these are the prancks and many more such fashions of like consequence which are daily taught and learned in thy God his Court But if hee hath not kept with thée that faith promise there was neuer any Iudge that in decyding of this matter could say any more of it but that he did not well and would so acquite him thinking also with thy selfe that he should doo the like if any other strange loue or fortune had giuen thée ouer to such a breache of former faith as now thou shouldest and I doo wish thée to doo He is not also the first that hath doone so nor thou the first to whom like accidents haue befallen Diuers examples of those that forsooke their louers Iason departed from Lemnos from Hipsiphile and returned into Thessaly to Medea and from her afterwards to Creusa Amorous Parris went from the woods of Ida from Oenon and returned to Troy with faire Hellen. Theseus went from Creete from Ariadne and came to Athens to Phedra And yet for al this neither Hipsiphile Oenone or Ariadne killed themselues but reiecting all vaine thoughts buried their false Louers in darke obliuioÌ„ Loue as I said aboue doth thée no wrong at all or hath doone thée any more then thou thy selfe wouldest take He vseth his bowe and arrowes without any respect of persons as we may dailie sée by proofe And there are so many and manifest examples making so cléere on his side and for his manner of inordinate dealinges that none can worthely be agréeued at any badde successe which hee giueth and that can with reason almost bewayle the ordinary gréefe paynes and care which by his meanes and molestations his followers haue but rather complaine and lament their voluntary submission and be sorrowful for their franck consent which they yéelded to him For he béeing but a wanton naked and blind boy doth flye and alight he knoweth not where himselfe Wherefore to be sorrowfull for hys accustomed and indirect vsages to bewayle his vnkind and froward abuses to receiue no coÌ„fort by him or by no means to thinke to remooue him is rather a losse of wordes and winde The newe Woman who hath taken thy beloued in her netts or els whom hee hath with his cunning guiles ouercome and whom with so many reuenging words thou dost menace with her owne fault perhaps hath not made hym hers but he with his important sutes it may be and wyth his flattering and pittifull words great gifts and seruicable déedes hath wonne her to be his And as thou wert wonte not able to resiste his enchaunting prayers and to beholde his wofull teares so she perhaps as flexible by prayers promises and protestations as thy selfe could not endure them without some great pittie of his distressed and sorrowfull cause If he coulde so well by amorous complaints expresse hys hote desires and could so cunningly as thou hast tolde like a Crocadile whensoeuer it pleased him bewaile and lament then must thou cléerely know that teares ioyned with beauty are of great force to obtaine their request And besides this Say that the Gentlewoman with her sugred spéeches and gracious behauiour hath ouercome him why is it not a thing commonly vsed now adayes in the worlde that euery one doth séeke his own aduantage not hauing any regarde or care to an other his preiudice Euery one seeketh his owne aduantage but where and when he findeth euen there and then hee taketh as hee best may The good Woman as expert as thy selfe in these affayres knowing perhaps him to bee a cunning Knight in Venus Courtly battailes allured him therefore the more vnto her And who with-holdeth thée or what impediment hast thou to hinder thée that thou mayest not doo the like to some other which thing albeit I neither counsell nor commaund But if there can be no more doone then may bee and that of necessitie thou art constrained to follow Loue whensoeuer thou wilt pull thy necke out of his seruile yoke thou mayest quickly finde a great number of yong and lusty Gentlemen in this Cittie more valiant noble proper more worthy and more louing and a great deale more constant then hee is Who as I certainly beléeue to obtaine but the smallest fauour at thy hands that he hath had would gladly kisse the very grounde