faithful constancy for Woman she could not be and Man she was not Oh what a thing were Woman should her visage alter with her mind and her external form should receive constant figurations from that inconstant mould she would be twenty several women in a moment Never was any Chamelion or Proteus more subject to various mutabilities But why do I blame the whole Sex for the unfaithfulness of one and why do I blame her for my own unworthiness ah it was not her inconstancy to me but my inconstancy to any thing of worth that made her hate me I that was the reason I am not worthy of her of her no not to live Then once more I bid farewell to all my hopes farewell all false deluding pleasures painted woes sugred lyes and farewell Helena the sum of all thou hast already peirced my heart with a wound more deep though not so deadly as this with that I ran in but ere my trembling feet could convey me to him his bloudy knife had made passage for his soul to fly from her claiy prison My daughter who had by this time so far come to her senses as sensibly to understand the sequel of the story no sooner heard it but overwhelmed with the raging agony of a furious passion ran up stairs whom still we carefully pursued but ah my tongue falters and my heart fails to speak the rest and then the tears began to glide down his Cheeks in such a liberal manner that Periander could not forbear to incorporate his with them but intreating him to proceed he thus went on Ah said he the rest is so tragical that it cannot be heard or related without a fractured heart for we could not follow her so fast as she followed death neither did we overtake her ere she had overtaken it for seeing her self pursued and no other way to bereave her self of life she leapt out of the window which Trebonius seeing as one already carried out of himself with horror despair and amazement knowing himself to be the cause of all these bloudy Tragedies to appease their Ghosts which otherwise he thought might continually attend him with affrighting representations in this world he would attend them in the other and thereupon leapt after her so that as if Fortune had studied how to exercise her uttermost power in making me miserable in one moment I was deprived of Son and Daughter Joy and Comforts all at once so that hopeless of ever superviving such extremity of miseries I resolved to spend the reâ—idue of my few days in preparing for death which my age now begins to summon to Scarce had he concluded his lamentable relation of a more lamentable story but a panting messenger came running with such haste as if his ambitious legs unsensible of their burthen had contended which should be esteemed the swiftest or attain the period of their journy the soonest His message was to require Geryon from the King with speed to haste to Court who accordingly arose and accompanied with Periander presently walked thither where the first species that did greet his eyes was the King and his Daughter Helena with their hands intermixed coming to meet him no sooner had his eyes beheld her but as if they had retained their visive power only for such a sight and now satiated with that resolved for ever to exclude all other objects that might exclude it determined never to see more His aged Heart rent with the violent extremities of over flowing excess of misery and now a too prodigal access of comfort not able to contain his vital spirits he in a moment just as he was going to salute and embrace her malicious Death as envying him so much happiness tript up his heels and rob'd him of life and kiss and all which Helena seeing shewing no less dutiful affection to him dead than living after many vain endeavours to recall his revolted spirits caused his funerals to be solemnized with as much state as his quality required and her ability could perform Fortune who had hitherto filled the eyes and ears of all men with nothing but dismal Tragedies was now minded to play a wanton reak and as sated with so much bloud for its better digestion brought in this Comical adventure amongst them It happened that one evening as they newly concluded their Supper a messenger came and privately whispered in Helena's ear telling her that an ancient Gentleman without desired the favour of some converse with her She granted it bade the messenger to invite him in He drawing neer after humble obeysance made to the King and the rest there present directed his speech to the Lady Helena in this sort Madam said he it was my fortune to be present at the death of unhappy Pentheus but who can be unhappy that ever was beloved by such a Lady as your â—â—lf who bequeathed his last gasp into my mouth which as well as I could understand breathed out these words Go tell dear Helena said he and dear may I well call her since she hath cost me my life that here I dye a mirror of Love and Faithfulness and a true pattern of a faithful Lover And moreover commanded me to beg of you that if any sparks of love or mercy to him yet remained and conjure you by the former testimonys of affection and the sweet remembrance of your more sweet embracings you would for your own sake if not for his for otherwise his unquiet Ghost would never rest appeased entertain my Son as your servant whilst Trebonius remains alive and after as your husband that so the resemblance that he bears of him may be a continual Memento to you And now Madam said he I have performed the Will of the dead on my part the residue of obedience only remains on yours of which I cannot but promise my self performance for sure so much cruelty and unfaithfulness as to deny cannot be disguised under so sweet a visard as Nature hath adorned your face withall And then he stopt earnestly waiting Helena's answer who first making many sighs and tears a prologue to her discourse made this Reply Sir said she I call heaven to witness to my faithfulness and constancy whose All-surveying Eye sees into the most abstruse retirements of the Soul and knoweth all its most secret productions to whom I dare appear Surely had I been faithless to such a one had the whole worlds contracted powers endeavoured to Barricado me against heavens vengeance all their united force had been but as paper bulwarks My spotless innocency is the only Brazen Wall that can protect me from its Cannon shot which I humbly importune heaven and then she kneeled that the very Clouds might discharge against this breast if there be any other than truth and faithfulness in me toward my Pentheus Madam answered the other such imprecations are unnecessary he whose distrustful breast dares lodge an unbelieving thought of what comes from so sweet a mouth may Cassandra's curse in its
down all opposition that shall withstand his attaining your Kingdom and the greatness of your force will serve him but to erect the Pyramids of his renown so much the higher And however my Lord you may â—latter your self with thoughts that you need ingage against none but his person conceiving that his death will put a period to all your troubles and be the onely means to invest you with the Soveraignty of Thessalia as the Oracle fondly advises you I tell you if you inquire of Reason the only Oracle placed in the Soul for man to follow it will inform you that in stead of opening a Gap to enter and possess his Kingdom it will open the floud-gates for a torrent of ruine to rush upon you but the best and only way to consummate all their misery and salve their State sores for whilst he lives all those dissentions divisions and distractions which already have brought the Kingdom to a gasping condition so that they are fain to address themselves to you for redress will be rather augmented than diminished For as in the Body Natural so in the Body Politick ill vapors are not contented alone to distemper the head but thence as from a Limbeck distilling disperse themselves into the whole body and there beget faction the mother of ruine and that which above all things strikes at the vitals of a Commonwealth by indeavouring to clip asunder that bond of Union which knits Soveraigns and Subjects together and so if you view the present condition of his estate with an impartial Eye you will find that that Kingdom which while all private concernments flowed in one stream of publike good was able to bear down all opposition before it is now cut into so many small rivulets of private interests as that if it obstruct not their course by War but let each stream flow in its own Chanel the whole power of that Kingdom will soon be dryed up Whereas were he dead those who now out of contempt and hatred forsake the Father would if not out of loyalty and fidelity yet out of pitty adhere to the Son and all those factions which like mists obscure the lustre of that Government will then all vanish before the rays of that rising Sun and if he be once seated in his Throne you will find it a more than Herculean labor to crowd him out from thence or to wrest the Scepter out of his tender hands Rather submit and part with part than be forced from all which will inevitably be the event if you follow your intended resolutions Were ever thy Eyes spectators said the other or thy Ears of any dishonorable action of mine that thou hast such mean thoughts of me that my heart can sâ—oop to a serviâ—â— submission either thou must imagin my worth very little and folly great that I will hearken to thy perswasions though containing never so little reason and honor in them or thy folly must be great to think that after a twenty years illustrious Reign in honor and applauâ—e I shall now begin to degenerate and what though blind Forâ—une hath hitherto câ—owned him wiâ—h success all his victories shall attend as Captives at my triumphant Chaâ—iot or else shall be as gemsm to adorn my Crown and give it the greater lustre And if my Kingdom hath â—urfetted by a long continued peace and contracted many malignant humors what can there be better than to let them bloud by War where the sharper the Lance the less is the wound Besides thinkst thou my presence nothing if my men are so stupidly base that neither honor victory the preservation of their lives and fortunes which will be all at stake will not stimulate them to the performance of actions of a higher and more noble nature than ordinary yet add to all this which is equal to all to see me in the midst of the greatest hazards confronting and encountring the greatest dangers surely will engage them to act something worthy the name of my Subjects and to be owned by me And if I dye what then better dye with honor than live with shame when if I dye it will be such a death as will give life to my name and after death I shall survive by an â—â—mortal fame But if I submit as you would have it and live it will be such a life as will be worse than death to be buried alive in the obscure Grave of Inâ—amy Besides hath Fortune Garlands for no Brows but his or is his Armor impenetrable or his Sword Inchanted if not why is it impossible for me to conquer Submit must I that were the ready way to be trampled uâ—on by all domineeâ—ing Princes superior in discipline of War though inferior in all other respects Tell not me of such ignoble things I hate to hear the mention of any thing so unworthy and infinitely beneath any who are endued with the smallest portion of a Royal spirit No though all Heavens winged Heralds should proclaim my destruction and accent each sentence with thunder yet would I undauntedly prosecute my resolutions when if I am forced at last to surrender the world may rather commiserate me for want of Fortune thâ—n condemn me for want of Valour Pardon My Lord said the other if I used an expression too â—ar below a person of your Royal dignity and Heroick spirit I endeavoured not to perswade you to any dishonrable reconcilement out of mistrust to your Valour which should I in any measure doubt of I deserved to perish by it and to give the proof of it by mine own destruction as I doubt not but Agis will With that Agis that had so long sacrificed his ears to their discourse and with such greedy attention devoured each sentence being now fully informed by hearing his own name mentioned who was the subject of their discourse resolved with all secresie and celerity to return to his Army and send a party to surprise them but as he was riâ—ing to return it was his unhappy Fortune to stumble and fall upon two boughs which as it were out of revenge for their blow with a rushing noise betrayed him to his enemies who having their discourse interrupted by such a sudden noise between fear and amazement arose and no sooner risen but as well as the Nights darkness would permit they discerned Agis newly recovered from his fall whom though they knew not yet thinking he might be some Sâ—ie from their enemies party or one at least who upon examination could inform them they apprehended him and with speed conveyed him to Megapolis the Metropolitan City of Hiarba's dominions which was not far distant from thence where they committed him to safe custody untill the light should discover what the darkness concealed No sooner did the morning appear and the light dispell the darkness but this Royal prisoner was called forth to give an account to Hiarbas who and what he was I should be guilty of too much profuseness both of words and time if I
regarded those pretty pleasing delights wherewith the place did entertain him and with a sweet though silent Elâ—quence seemed to bid him welcome But entring in he saw the Hermit apparalled in a Gown of Grey kneeling upon his Knees with his Eyes and Hands lifted up Gravity was written in his looks Devotion in his Gestures and Age in both for his snowy Hairs and shaking Hands argued that the Summer of his Age was past Grave Father said Periander my bleeding Wounds sighing Heart and sorrowful Countenance are better able to apologize for my rude interruption of your serious Devotions than my tongue which if it speak at all it can be no other than lamentations of my unhappy Fortune And therefore read there what I would say which cannot I hope but be satisfactory The Hermit answered him that he knew no errour he had commited that needed an Apology except it were for making a groundless Apology and that if he had committed any offence it was only against himself offence being grounded upon injury and it was himself alone that he had injured by deferting the healing of his wounds by his discourse With that the tears descended in showres upon Perianders cheeks Ah Athalus that my Death could purchase thy Life since I deserve not Life that have so neglected thy Death A thousand times I beg thee pardon but alas thou art not alive to give it happy should I esteem my self in the midst of the greatest misery wert thou but alive to sentence me to it This sudden sorrowful Rapture of sorrow filled the Hermit with as much Amazement as Periander was with Grief and as the suddenness of it bred Astonishment so the sadnesse bred Pity so that he wept as if the heat of Perianders passion had thawed his frozen Age into Tears At length his compassion for Perianders passion was not converted but encreased to a desire of knowing the cause of his sorrow Alas said he what can I do that am thus informed by the Ears one way and by the Eyes another you tell me Sacrifice must give place to Mercy and yet you Sacrifice your self to Cruelty for what greater Cruelty can there be than to be Unmerciful to those over whom Fortune hath exercised her greatest cruelty do you not see how the Bloud trickles down in Streams and your Armour seems to weep in tears of Bloud for your cruelty to your self and your Wounds like so many mouths intreating for mercy And with that the Hermit was going to dress Perianders wounds but he would not permit him until he had gone and conveyed Athalus's body into the Cave where after they had chafed his Limbs the Hermit took down a little glass within whose transparent wall there was inclosed a Spirit of such a reviving Vertue as it was able to recal the revolted senses After they had transfused some few drops thereof into him his panting Breast faintly began to beat his unclouded eyes that had been Eclipsed with a veil of darkness began weakly to struggle with the over-dazeling light Periander seeing this began to faint with joy but he was quickly revived with Athalus his first saluting the light Oh said he where am I with him said Periander who is hastening to dye with you since it is worse than Death to Live while you are dead No said he I am hastening to live with you since it is the worst of deaths to dye while you are alive But Athalus who had hardly so much life in him as to perceive he had life and yet so much as to discern that he was inclosed within a dark place which had only so much light in it as to let them see they were in darkness for so the Hermit had made it to keep out the intruding air lest it should penetrate Athalus his wounds and cause relapse and finding that it was not inroll'd in the Records of his memory how he came there he more and more grew to a perswasion that the former conceipt that he was alive was but a deceit that he and Periander were but Ghosts and remembring how that with his life he had lost Matilda more precious to him than ten thousand lives he began to faint again as though he would dye to avoid Death and his sences sensible of insensibility grew weary of being sensible and as condemned themselves fled as voluntary exiles from their proper habitation But the Hermit continuing his charitable office recovered him from the confines of Death But yet so strongly was he confirmed in that apprehension that he imagined the Cave either his Tomb or else a dark entrance into that Region of darkness the Hermit to be Charon and the River to be the Stygian lake the Gloominess of the first the Gravity of the second and the whispering Conspiracies of the last seeming to combine together to deceive him And as the Fancy is not only capable to receive and apprehend those species which the external Senses as its Organs convey into it from external Objects but also to create Phantasmes within it self which never had a being in Natnre so did Athalus his fancy represent to his eyes Legions of Ghosts doomed to their eternal habitations But though his thoughts were thus filled with shadows yet were they not able to crowd Matilda thence but remembring how that in losing his life he lost her and in losing her he lost the life of his life and which only made Life precious and Death miserable he fell to a passionate lamenting his condition till he was convinced by Perianders persuasions and a more liberal access of light And then the very joy of his sudden redemption from that Hell that tortured his mind was such a restorative that it was not long ere by the Hermits assistance he had regained a great degree of strength so that looking about him and observing the Hermits little solitary dwelling he espied the Youth that attended upon him and that directed Periander to the Cave And taking notice of his Starry Eyes and beauteous promising countenance he demanded of the Hermit who he was who to satisfie his curiosity and to pass away the time which otherwise through the Melancholy loneliness of the place might seem tedious he told them this story This youth said he is Pâ—ndion Son to Agis King of Thessaly a Prince of such a melancholy constitution both of body and mind as that it was rare for the most curious wits in his Court ever to wrest a smile from him or once to discompose his countenance always retiring himself within the Closet of his thoughts and those thoughts consisting most of horrid matters And as melancholy by reason of those sable fumes which ascend from that feculent humor and with a gloomy darkness over-spread the mind is the cause of fear so fear is the mother of superstition as is apparent in him who never thinks himself secure if the least more of danger flotes in the air of his imagination or while that fear which his thoughts ever
of my Cave and with all speed came running to me I was no less astonished at the beauty of the youth than amazed to see him in such an unfrequented place for during thirty years that I spent in this solitary place I never beheld the face of any here before him whom after my mean manner I have entertained for some years not being able to direct him to the Foresters habitation This story told with so much gravity and deliberation so moved Periander to compassion as that he resolved to accompany young Pandion into Thessalia and there by all means endeavor his restauration which however if he could not effect yet he would render himself renowned for his high Attempt and therefore blessed his Fortune which though hitherto had been adverse to him yet now had presented him with such an happy occasion and so fit a place for a Theatre whereon to Act the Heroick Exploits which were already transacted within his thoughts Neither was Athalus less desirous of acting a part in that honorable enterprise so much of his spirits had not steamed forth from those streams of bloud as to enfeeble both his body and mind but still he was as propense to embrace any action that required valour for its performance as ever but the weakness of his body would not permit him to undertake any thing proportionable to the greatness of his mind For though the care and diligence of the Hermit had brought him from a despair of life yet not out of danger of death should he be too negligent of himself so that with a seeming unwilling willingness he yielded to Perianders and the Hermits perswasions rather to return to his Castle and when necessity should require assist them with Forces from thence And though it was the wound uncured in his body that was the pretence it was chiefly the wound incurable in his heart that made him withdraw which nothing could heal but a Sympathetick Plaister applyed to the Dart that gave the wound and that was Matilda's Beauty and therefore to her must he return if he will ever find ease which accordingly he determined to do Having made these conclusions among themselves they walked abroad to refresh themselves and Athalus who for several days had not tasted the fresh Air the Hermit entertaining them with discourses one while of the vanity of Sublunary delights how that their greatest perfection is but imperfection and in their best injoyment attended with annoy and how â—â—itting transitory and fading and how unreasonable for a reasonable Soul of such a depurate immaterial and supercelestial Nature and therefore a fit soil for the most sublime thoughts and enravishing affections to spring up in to delight it self in such course embracements Then he would be lavish in the praises of a contemplative life the happiness and sweet repose of solitude how that freed from the worlds tumultuary distractions and Corroding cares the Soul doth mount aloft upon the Wings of Contemplation above the Star-glistring Heavens and satiate her self with Angelical delights that reside in a higher Sphere than Nature and thence descending taste what excellency Heaven and Earth will present which as a solemne repast after such transporting and rapturous delights fills and dilates the Soul with excess of joy and contentation Can any humane Artifice said he please and delight the eye as it doth the intellectual eye of the Soul to see with what unwearied swiftness the rowling Heavens whirl the sparkling Globes of light and with such violence as if it meant to sling them out of the Universe had not Nature there unmoveably riveted them to see how the envious Moon as it were repining at her brothers glories strives maliciously to obscure and hide them from the view of the admiring world by interposing her opake body between it and the Suns refulgent Beams and then how the Earth to requiâ—e that maligne interposition wrappeth her in a misty shade and makes darkness triumph over her and plunder her of all her resplendent lightsomness and render her invisible that gives visibility in the mids of darkness to all sublunary beings To read the events of all things written in Golden Characters by the hand of the All-seeing Deity To see how the revolutions and alterations of persons and actions depend upon their circumvolutions what earthly Palace can compare with that where the worlds great Monarch keeps his Court invironed with an Aethereal Wall whose ten arched stories borders upon the Empyreal Palace moated with a Crystalline Ocean guarded with hoasts of twinkling partizans whose gilded shields and glistering Spears reflect back the Suns radiant glances to see the flaming Courtiers clad in golden Treasses dance to the Musick of the Spheres roving and traversing the transparent floor with such confused order as if they measured each pace by the sweet Charmes of the Musicks modulations whose harmonious accents consist of disagreeing concords so they are most constant and regular when most irregularly inconstant Neither are there wanting Tiltings and Turnaments and feats of Chivalry for how often doth the Sun himself mounted in his glory-beaming Chariot sâ—od with burning bosses run the Celestial Ring with all his flaming attendants pursuing after in their full career through Heavens arched Galleries The Air is his Kitchin where his Cates are prepared the Clouds the steam that ascends from his boyling Caldron Thus they went the Hermit beguiling the time with his grave discourses till they came to the top of the Hill which proudly elevating it self above the humble valleys and levelling plains blest their Eyes with the most delightsom prospects the Country could afford there might you have seen Art and Nature joyn in Consort and strive to present a most beautiful Harmony to the eyes There were the natural Theatres of lofty Hills where the most refined gusts of air would dance to the warbles of the winged Choristers chirping under the green Canopies of shady Groves Vales treasuring up silver Rivers which gently gliding would steal away beholders senses by which the Shepherds would sit feeding their Flocks whilst the wanton Lambs would dance to the Musick of their Oaten Pipes Not far distant stood a pleasant Town on the side of a Hill compassed with green Meadows water'd with the â—ilver streams of little bubling Rivers that strayed to and fro in wanton Meanders the streets so intermixed with shady Trees seemed as if the Woods had left their melancholy retiredness and grown sociable meant to inhabit the Town or as if the Town had left its chearful sociablenesse and grown to a kind of civil wildness meant to inhabit the Woods or rather as a marriage between both Hither did Periâ—nder Pandion and Athalus repair to furnish themselves and Pandion especially with Armour and all acouttements fit for their intended undertakings having first taken leave of the good old Hermit and returned millions of thanks for his charitable kindness telling him that they counted their present unhappiness chiefly to consist in this that thereby
thus matched by a Youth inraged and ashamed that he should be so long in conquering one over whom though his valour should render him victorious yet he should not merit the title of a Victor summon'd together all his active powers and with united force gave such a blow on Pandion that all the protection he could receive from his well-managed Sword was to moderate the violence of the stroak which yet nevertheless lighted on the side of his Head with such a force that it dispossessed his memory of its bruised habitation and drove him some few paces from the place where he stood which Clausus perceiving resolved not to neglect such an opportunity but pursued him with redoubled blows and reunited power But Pandion as if his veins had been filled with Spirits as fast as they were emptied of Bloud mustring all his strength skill and courage together being to give a gallant Farewell like the last blaze of a dying light ran with such a vehement courage upon Clausus that he not aware but rashly prosecuting victorious Fortune the Sword run thorough his Heart or rather he ran his Heart upon it conqueâ—ing himself just when he was triumphing on the conquest of his enemy which when the Knights of the Castle pâ—rceived not regarding the Laws of Arms â—lew in â—o defend their Captain or rather themselves knowing that on the thrid of his Life hung all their Privileges which â—ut in two must needs fall to the ground which consideration made them fall inconsiderately on Pandion which Periandâ—r seeing enraged with contempt of their Dastardly baseness to set upon a wounded man gasping for Life and more to think that such cowards should be allotted him to be the Subjects of his valour and most of all to think that his friend and he should receive their Deaths from the hands of such miscreants Being near over-pressed with the multitude he rushed upon them with such a torrent of violence as drowned whomsoever he encountred withall in a lake of their own bloud though surrounded with them he could not avoid receiving some blows yet they served but to encrease his rage to the extremity so that with a mad violence or furious madness all the powers of his Soul and the Strength Dexterity and Activity of his Body transfer'd to the one arm he dislived some and disarmed others his valour being crushed between the two extremes necessity of preserving his Friends and his own Life and the difficulty of accomplishing it made it so swell within his breast with the madness of a terrible fury that to the destruction and admiration of his enemies he went beyond himself in his atchievements killing where he hit and hitting where he pleased separating some not only their Souls from their Bodies but their upper parts from their nether others that were aiming where to lodge their blow with the greatest advantage he deprived of blow and sight and all Whilst Pandion not able to assist his friend was forced to refresh his fainting body by resting himself upon the ground But they were soon assisted by the Knights imprisoned within the Castle who knowing that their Jaylors were imprisoned by Death and seeing Pandion bestrid by Periander and he beset with their enemies they unanimously assaulted them all agreeing in the means of their preservation their enemies destruction though all disagreeing in the end some fighting to preserve their own honour disdaining to be enslaved by such unworthy Villains others for their Ladies some out of Love to the Commonwealth to quit it from such a nest of Pestilent Fellows others out of hatred to their enemies so that in fine there grew a desperate combat as it must needs the Combatants growing desperate the Clausian Knights resolving rather to lose their lives by whole-sale on the point of the Sword than retail them out by the hand of Justice which they knew would befall them should they surrender grew fearless through fear so that Courage in the Valiant grew desperate and despair made the Coward couragious that at length the conflict grew so cruel that the very ground was overflown with a deluge of bloud and the earth that was wont to bury mens bodies mens bodies now buried the earth so that it seemed like Mars's sowing time the seeds of cruelty being implanted in each Breast and watered with Bloud but like Deaths reaping time such an Harvest of Bodies there lay in heaps serving as Bridges to transport over Rivers of Bloud that streamed in the pavement Hard it was to determine which way the ballance of victory would poize Fortune for a while carrying her self a Neuter till at length Periander being a too partial Umpire by the mediation of his valour decided the controversy sending such throngs of Souls of the Clausian Knights that were loth to answer for their unanswerable crimes before Melampus his Tribunal to receive their eternal doom that the small remainder yielded craving mercy which they found Then Periander receiving the Keys of the Gate gave the Captives that were the Keepers to the Keepers that were the Captives till Pandion whose right it was to command should otherwise order who appointed Sentinels on the wall and a watch for that night intending the next morning to march in triumph to King Melampus's Court. But no sooner had each man took his Station but their Ears were arrested with the crys of a Female voice which as well as they could understand demanded entrance the Gates being opened they all straight knew her to be Roxana their Kings Daughter who seeing the event of the Combat came with speed to the Castle to perform her last obsequies to Theon and to return thanks to Pandion and Periander for their hazardous adventure And being admitted into the Castle she was received with all respect and joy by all the Knights and Ladies there but especially by Pandion who blest her ears with the happy tidings that Theon was yet alive pointing where his Chamber was who would have said more but the transporting joy not only divorced all sorrow from her Heart but her Body from the place so that both his words and thoughts were prevented with her sudden â—light calling as she went Theon Theon her Tongue not being able any more to express her unexpressible passion but as soon as the eyes of Theon nay his Heart nay his Soul was ravished with the sight of Roxana as if her beauty had been some divine quintessential extract or some ray of that celestial fire that inspired life into Prometheus Image he felt a vigour infused into all his fainting limbs and the Darts of Beauty to triumph over the Darts of Death and her words to blow up the dying sparks of Life into a flame so that assembling all his powers together he cast himself into her Arms his Legs being unfaithful and feeble supporters of his Body But alas as their arms were linked each in other and their very Souls intwin'd by a sweet sympathy Theons Spirits that like the dying
they preferred before all but the internal eyes of his Soul continually gazed upon the picture of Florinda that was lively painted in his Fancy by the Pencil of affection But Supper being ended after some Masks and Revels and other pleasures the night being far spent they all retired to their Lodgings THE SECOND BOOK OF PANDION AND AMPHIGENIA SWift-footed Time feathered with flying houres of it self posts away with such celerity that we are no sooner entred upon the Stage to act our parts on the Theatre of this world but ere we are aware the Scene is concluded and Death pronounces an Exit yet the mirth and jollity of those happy days seemed to add wings unto it while unhappy Periander and the more unhappy because so in the mids of so much happiness would not permit the least joy to intrude into his heart but abandoned his thoughts wholly to mournful meditations which though in themselves unpleasing yet sweet to him because hovering in Loves Dominions still lighted on so sweet a Centre as Florinda Oft would he walk alone and recount to himsâ—lf his various misfortunes and then account them all as Cyphers compar'd with his exilement from Florinda but then joyning both together with a multiplying addition how far would he say doth it surmount my Souls Arithmetick to number my innumerable griefs Had ever any one such mountains of sorrows heaped upon him and not overwhelmed Cetainly they are not set for steps to climbe to a Heaven of happiness rather aâ— Tombes where all my hopes desires and joys may be interred Thus as the Torpedo when it feels it self insnared by the deceitful hook vomits â—orth a bane-full humor into the briny Ocean and not onely fills the places neer adjoyning to her with a Chilling Ice but sends it up to the Anglers hand wherewith in a moment it 〈◊〉 and Charms his senses into a death-resembling sleep so Perianders sorrow intangled with Loves Bait not only fill'd his heart with the fumes of discontent but infected all those Joys that seemed to Angle for it with their delicious Baits And one morning by that time Aurora had spread her Vermilion Mantle on Heavens Azure floor and the Suns glistering Beams had gilded the mountain tops Periander leapt out of his Bed aâ—d went into the Walks where the shadiness of the Trees the coolness of the Air which was fann'd to and fro with Zephyrus wings and the sweet agreeable murmuring of the Fountaines fomented in his Breast that humor which fed it self with the remembrance of Florinda What strange unruly passions are these said he that thus stand Centinel at the doors of my senses and deny Rest entrance and if any Joys are suters for the possession of my heart they soon forbid the Banes and thus domineering within the Kingdom of my troubled Breast chase all contentment from me so that methinks I could consume an Age in thinking and make my Griefs keep Time with the Spheres harmonious motions till time shall be no more for as they do rise but never set for when they seem to set to us they then rise to our Antipodes so have my sorrows a beginning but never ending keeping a perpetual motion in my Breast and when the morning begins then doth my Heart greet the approaching light with a hope-abscoâ—ding Cloud of sighs exhaled by the heat of Loves Passions from the Ocean of Grief within my mind and when the Evening begins to close the Day then doth my Heart conclude it with showers of dewy Tears and all proceeds from the remembrance of Florinda Ah sweet remembrance said he happy were I wouldst thou make me forget all other happiness or smother the thoughts of my present misery But more sweet Florinda since all abstracted sweetness is lodged in thee how could I part with Thee and not part with Life or rather how could I part with Life in parting with Thee and yet live What was I senseless that I could hear the fatal Messenger pronounce that more fatal sentence and the very Cadence of his speech not stab me to the heart Sure the very sound would have struck me dead but alas misery had so filled my Heart that there was no room for death Oh envious Fortune couldst thou find no other time to blast my happiness but in the blooming of it In what poysonous composition didst thou dip thy invenomed shaft that feathered both with Life and Death shot Death to my happiness but Life to my misery Come once more bend thy Bow and since thou dost delight in my destruction draw thy Dart up to the head and here 's a Brest prepared for thee As he was further proceeding in his speech he was interrupted with a doleful noise which being handed to his ears by Eccho's reverberations seemed as if she had a fresh begun with pining lamentations to bewail her more pining Narcissus but er'e he could consider what it was or whence it came his ears were arrested with a train of mournful tones that followed their flying predecessor and then a peircing drilling cry would seem to be a treble to a murmuring Groan but drawing neer hoping to find one to sympathize with him in his misery he heard the voice formed into these words Oh heavens were it not enough to take her hence but you must take all mercy with her alas what need is there for mercy where there is no misery there is nothing but a boundless Sea of Happiness and here nothing but a bottomless abysse of Wo. Oh command Death to unlock the doors of happiness that I may enter in and exchange these Heart-infringing Groans for the Heaven-bred Raptures of that Seraphick Quire that surround the Heavenly Throne and these Soul-melting Tears for those Nectarian streamâ— of immortal pleasures Come Death thou that art so prodigal of thy Darts to shoot a Virgin in the Aurora of her days whose fresh smiles would have melted the most flinty heart into mercy come spare a shaft to me whose age aswell as miseries inviteth Oh! why art thou grown thus preposterous to take the young and leave the old would not her Beauty move pity in thy heart Methinks her blushing Cheeks might have made thee ashamed of thy cruelty How couldst thou find in thy heart to thrust thy Sithe into her tender sides Sure no such thing as Love could be the cause no Love never resides in an obdurate Heart And ah the Grave is too hard a marriage Bed and thy looks too gastly for her to delight in thy cold embracements Come then to me to whom thou shalt be wellcome puff out this blaze of Life and let my fledgd Soul take her Wing Thinkest thou that a few Tears can supply with moysture what so many griefs and years have dryed up No surely long it cannot be ere my sublime Soul must bid farewell to all these transitory Griefs and Joys Having spoken this he concluded with such a groan as if he had ended his speech and Life together But Periander
Which amorous hearts soon do insnare All pearls transcending The Down that 's under Angels Wings Is not so soft Titans bright fair Rich dazling tresses can't compare With that curl'd up in curious rings All Pearls transcending You heav'ns come shew your power and art Transform into a Gem my heart All Pearls transcending That having lustre from her eyes and there Fixed may make rings for the Gods to wear Ah is there none the way can find My captiv'd fetter'd â—eart t' unbind Bound in her hair The more this bow-knot I unloose Ah me the faster it doth knit And striving more I tangle it And wind it in an endless noose In her fair hair A bow knot well I may it call Since from Loves bow is all my thrall Strung with her hair Soon would my heart be eas'd of all my trouble Would she but tye this single Love-knot double Her lips are beauties nests that swell Pregnant with sweets where graces dwell Wrapt in Vermilion Th' Arabian Aromatick gales When they the blushing Roses kiss Breath not such sweet perfumes as is Her breath which her pure lips exhales Wrapt in Vermilion Each word an Eagle soaring high With wit that from those lips doth flye Wrapt in Vermilion When she speaks Angels listen and the Spheres Stand still neglect their Musick wish th' had ears No wonder all means prove so vain To make her heart love entertain For Love is slain And plunder'd too of every sweet In her hard marble heart he lies Intomb'd his shafts are in her eyes Her purest white 's his winding sheet Poor Love is slain Her lips with his blood sprinkled are His wings are now become her hair Ah! Love is slain His bow is turned into her arched brow And thus poor Love is slain but none knows how My Lute let 's sing his obsequies You Clouds with tears supply my eyes For Love is dead No marveil then that all things war Love tunes the whole worlds harmony Whose diapazon still doth lye In sweet consent where is no jar Ah! Love is dead Oh no the wanton sawcy Boy Would with his mother sport and toy Love is not dead For which she hath exil'd him and he 's fled Into my heart and feigns that he is dead Amphigenia that had attended to this Song with delight and astonishment admiring whence the Musick came for by reason of the thickness of the hangings and largeness of the room the Lutes sweet Airs were not so cleerly conveyed to her ear But directing her steps by the sobbing voice she came to the hangings behind which Danpion sat where calling for Florinda demanded of her if she knew whence those strains should come Who replyed that it must be some Angel that was turned inamorate and fled to her Chamber mistaking it for Loves Paradise for sure no mortal dares or can attempt said she so neer an approach when restrained by your Fathers special prohibition Danpion hearing Amphigenia make such strict inquiry hasted thence lest he should be discovered but now the flames of Love burned with more vehemency than before so that the torment had been insupportable had it not been fanned and cooled with hope which began to breath upon him with some gentle gusts For having such a passage where undiscovered to any he might have resort to her Chamber he resolved to personate some Intelligence till he might have free admittance to her presence which in time he thought he might be able to effect by reason of Florinda's intimacy with her who by her insinuations would confirm in Amphigenia's apprehensions what he should do not to be delusions but realities Accordingly the next night after when he thought the time of night might invite fair Amphigenia to refresh her self with sweet slumber he took his Lute as before and softly stole to her Chamber But as he went his mind was filled with distracting thoughts How well did he say doth this blind passage ressemble those blinder paths I thus tread to my happiness These dark windings and craggy turnings that this Vault abounds in methinks lightsomly represents the inexsucerable difficulties and inextricable intricacies I am forced to pass thorough and must be involved in ere I can arrive at any glimmerings of hope But my comfort is that as this conducts to an Elyzium such a one as the Gods would exchange theirs for such a one as the Antick Poets inspired with a prophetick as well as Poetick fury did but typifie in their fictions so the various windings of my unhappy love when my Cloudy fortune shall unmask her dusky face will at length be unwound and come to a bottom where they 'l centre in an Elyzium of happiness Being come to the end of the Cave he perceived Amphigenia fast asleep her Wax Taper burning by her As she lay his eyes carved such ravishing sweets as transported with the violence of so many Darts he thought he had attained the Zenith of his felicity The Pillow blest with a kiss from her Cheeks as pregnant with delight swelled on either side Her eyes Canopyed in sleeps dark veil shewed lifes triumph in the Map of death Her hand contended with the Lawn for whiteness and being partly covered with it looked like a Lilly through purest Crystall A lock that had stollen from its sweet prison folded in cloudy curls lay dallying with her breath sometimes striving to get a kiss and then repulsed flew back sometimes obtaining its desired bliss and then as rapt with joy retreats in wanton caperings Her body that lay arayed or rather disarayed in a thin Smock wrought with blew silk and silver obscured not her skin but rather made it appear the lovelier if lovelier it could be Her breasts at liberty displayed were of so pure a whiteness as if ones eye through the transparent skin had viewed the milky treasures they inclosed Her Violet veins that streamed in branched Rivers seemed like Azure paths in a milky heaven This confluence of delights put Danpion besides himself for a while but recollecting his thoughts he took his Lute and tuning it in Consort with his Soul in a Love rapture sang this Song Were I immur'd in flesh and blood And might enjoy so sweet a good I 'de not exchange my blissful state With any earthly Potentate Ah now I see that beauties Darts Can penetrate the Angels hearts I see those lucid Stars that shine In Heav'ns bright Orb neer the divine Empyreal throne though they transcend Earths beauties all yet love can rend The heav'ns and peirce the Azure sky And rapt them with loves extasie who 'd think the winged Boy could climb Through all the starry Spheres sublime His quiver fill'd with beauties rays And though so blind yet see such ways In heaven to steal and durst enthrall The very powers Angelical Sweet Amphigen ' thy beauty rings Through Heavens Court each Angel sings Thy praise and poor I to behold What same had eccho'd there and told Came thence but now flames from thine eye Hath sindg'd
would be brim-full with a raging pang which would struggle for birth but in striving to vent all it could vent nothing but only stop the passage of her speech till at length her breath would be delivered of a Groan which capring thorow the Bowes and Leaves would be re-bounded to her Ears by Eccho which Glycera hearing the better to pass away the mournful hours of the night began thus to entertain a Dialogue with her which because the Knight thought worthy the relation to Pandion as well as I can remember I shall relate to you Who is that said Glycera derides my misery I said Eccho Who is that I Is it Eccho â—Tis Eccho What dost thou mock at woe No. No sure thy own woes might make thee pity mine Pity mine Thy griefs indeed would extort pity from the â—â—intiest heart but oh What grief 's like mine Mine â—Tis true thine might extract the tribute of a bleeding-eye I. But sure my sorrows need pity too Need pity too Tell me then Eccho must these griefs still perâ—â—ver Ever Ever That 's a sad doom what must my miseries alwayes proceed Seed What no sooner â—ipe and blown but Seed again Gain Gain indeed to exchange a few joyes for a million of sorrows but yet O that Heaven would release me of my Bargain Bare gain Bare gain certainly to sell my Soul for sighs and Tears but oh when shall I find release Lease What not till my lifes Lease is out But when that 's done whither shall I then fly High What to the Elizium of eternal bliss Yes When once arrived there what shall my Soul enjoy Joy What joyes are those that inhabit the Heaven Empyreal Real Mean time will not Heaven hear my cry Cry That I have oft done but yet had no reply Ply What if I should Ply it still what Medicine will Heaven apply to my Disease Ease What if I shall forbear vocal or mental Prayer Erre Why will not Heaven hear the shrill moans of distreâ—t Innocence No sense Why are there any cryes more shrill Ill. Ill cryes aloud for vengeance but oh the sweet perfumes that ascend from the chast Innocent No sent What can such sweet exhalations yeeld no sent No sent Why is it that such a redolent Balm as Innocencye which ascends to Heaven as a perpetual Sacrifice should yeeld without Prayer no sent Without Prayer nocent When the nocent prayes what return doth Heaven make to his desire Ire What Answer will Heaven return if the Innocent pray Ray. A Ray of Love or Light or both Both. Which of the Powers sublime can affect a Mortal All. When a beam of Love shines from Heaven into a Mortal what part doth it comfort Fort. The Fort or Life where the soul chiefly retires which is that part Heart How long will such Divine consolations stay Ay. For ay will they abide Bide Oh Heavenly newes But Echo how com'st thou to be of Heavens Privy-Counsel Didst e're fly so nigh the Gods as to read the Records of Destiny Nigh Thou art mortal as well as I art thou not Not. Art thou not born below among the Trees and Dens and Caves re-sounding when we hollow Low But prethee Echo tell me what made thee pine for coy Naâ—cissus love Love And what became of thy sweet body O dy Where went thy soul when thou grieving saw'st thy Narcissus tears so many shed Vanished What inchanted Charms were in his beauteous Face to effect so strange a transformation Ah shone And could his shining-beauty thee so soon annihilate Late What didst thou do when thou sawest him Metamorphosed into a Flower Lowre And what when thou heardst his last groan Groan And what did the Woods do when he pin'd with the sight of his own beauty in the Spring Ring And what hast thou done ever since Heaven did transmute thy shape Ape Since then thou art nothing but a Mortals Ape how knowest thou Heavens Decrees so well Well How canst thou pry into their Designes who all earth-born Mortals in wisdom so surmount Mount And will the Gods above none from their Counsels exclude Lewd Art thou not lewd that for fond Narâ—issu's love dost moan incessantly Lye Sure such unchast affection is not holy Oly. But I have vowed to live for ever chast Haste And doth not such a vow oblige to chastity Tye tye Well since it tyes me so I 'll hence be gone Be gone And through Heavens assistance perform what I have vowed to do Do. Thus did poor Glâ—cera sâ—rive to divert the thoughts of her misery somtimes by discoursing with Echo somtimes be â—oaning to her self her own hard fortune somtimes praying to Heaven for relief somtimes wishing for Death and if she chanced to heaâ— a whisâ—râ—ng wind flutter among the Leaves her sorrow would perswade her fancy to conceit it to be some Messenger of Heaven or Death to bring her the tidings of a reprival or removal from her state of woe and if a whispering blast chanced to re-bound to her from the Leaves presently grief would represent to her fancy Deaths Arrowes singing her Elogies as they flew to her obvious heart Thus did she spend that night in wayling weeping sighing sobbing grieving groaning till Titan's fiery Steeds had chased away the lesser luminaries that had usurped his Throne but yet no Day-break of hope dawned upon her with beams of comfort but in that woful despairing condition did she run through invious Woods rocky Desarts and hollow Caves where night kept house with mournful solitariness and over hills and mountains inhabited only by the Clouds until at length she came into a pleasant Vale incircled with a murmuring River which seemed with silent mutterings to repine at her sorrows and over-spread with a gloomy shade by reason of hanging Rocks that defended it from the Suns invasion seemed as it were dâ—essed in funeral-attire to mourn for Glycera's sorrows Glycera observing this Vale to be a fit place where she might bid her Adieu to the world and all sublunary contentments resolved there to sit her down and dye For of four dayes and nights that she had wandred through those Desarts had she not received the least sustenance and therefore her fainting spirits too weak Chains to fasten her Soul to her Body were oft ready to let loose their Prisoner By this River she sat down and prayed to Heaven to let loose the bands of Life and not to retard slow-pac'd Death any longer but to consort her among the shades that wander in the Elizium Plains And further begg'd That when Death should crumble her body to Atomes and resolve it into individual Units that then her soul might be united to the great and only Eternal Individual and dwell among those beatified Souls that float like Atomes in the Sun-shine of his resplendent glory This having said she laid her down upon the Brink of the mournfully-grumbling River and closed her Eyes thinking never more to behold the loathed Light and hourly expected the sweet Gaol-delivery
of her soul but the Destinies that had inter-woven and twisted the Threeds of her life and misery so together as neither could be clipped asunder without clipping both resolved that the bottom of her life and misery should not yet be unwound by the wounds of Death but nevertheless a little to apâ—ease the ragings of an uncontroulable Passion they arrowsed a humid Vapour out of its moist bed of dirt and sent it to unlock her Pores and usher in a gentle sleep But no sooner had sleep allayed the surges of Passion but Morpheus began to form strange â—â—antasms in her imagination Somtimes he would erect a high precipice in her Fancy so high as the blended Clobe of earth and water would look like an Atom and then tumble her down from thence into some profound abyss peopled with Adders Toads and Snakes and other venemous vermine and then she would start and give a shriek that the whole Forest would reâ—ound with the Eccho but then the purlings of the silver stream would hush her asleep again and then the drowsie Deity would Plant a Forest in her Brain where he would digg dens for Lions Bears and howling Wolves and build nests for Owls Batts and Night-Ravens and other Birds of darknesse and then the howling roaring bellowing shrieking croaking of these wild inhabitants would attach her faculties with hideous terrors and imprison them in amazement Thus in a confused manner she spent the greatest part of the night till about the time when Orion begins to bath himself in the Ocean and the Lamps near consumed she heard a rustling among the leaves and boughs which putting her in mind of her dream obtâ—uded on her fancy a conceit that it must needs be some wild beast that roving through the Forest sought for prey wheâ—eat exceedingly astonished she flyes as if fear and amazement had added wings to her heels but ah to overtake her own sad fate for as she was passing by a hollow cave hollow-hearted indeed to her though otherwise repleat with mischief there suddenly issued out a savage Ruffin that ere she was aware catcht her about her waste and not at all regardiâ—g her â—uful cries and groans such as would have meltâ—d a Rock of Adamant such as would have inâ—used a sâ—nse-diâ—tracting grief into a Fury though hardened with quotidian cruelty he flings her upon the ground and draws out a sharp Ponyard and threatens with that to peirce her heart if she speedily surrendred not hâ—r body that sweet Temple where Vertue lay inshrined and spotless thoughts were the pure obâ—â—ions offered on the Altar of a chast heart to the pollâ—tions of his filthy lust Glycera perceiving her inability to contend by force by reason of her faintness with a voice that shewed a heart fearless of death returned him this reâ—ly Lustful Villain said she dost thou think that the pâ—ircing of a heart can be a piercing terror to a heart already peirced with killing sorrow the Antipathies between life and death are too much reconciled in me by the terrors of assiduous deaths ever to be terrified with thy death-threatning savageness sharpen thy Ponyard then with the Whetstone of thy Marble-hearted cruelty and when thou hast done sheath it in my heart but then know that it shall prove a Pandora's box filled with thousands of miseries which shall flutter forth out of that wound and by heavens vengeance glewed to thy soul shall at length possess thee with a terror that will make thee exercise a death upon thy self more horrid than this that hell now prompts thee to exercise upon me and the very steams that will ascend from my reaking blood shall become a thunder which wheresever skulkt shall find thee out and â—end thee into more pieces than hell will have Furies to torment Foolish woman said he tell not me of heaven hell or Furies I know no other heaven but satiating my desires no other hell than such dilatory interruptions of my pleasure when extremity of desire breeds impatiency nor other Fury than a pestilent imperious woman such as thou therefore I tell thee once more resign up thy self to my lust or by heavens if there be any I 'le take thee by storm as impregnable as thou thinkst thy self and quench the flames of my lust in thy heart bloud The fear of death she replyed hath impression upon none but such Villains as thou whose smutty souls horror striking guilt corrodes but as for me my soul is carryed on the wings of Vertue out of the reach of those terrors therefore if thou wilt or if thou durst broach my heart and make thy soul drunk with cruelty thou wilt but make a passage for my soul to fly to those mansions where happiness dwells essentially Thy vertue said he flatter not thy self wiâ—â— that for I 'le plunder thee of that totally and oh that my Steeletto could reach thy soul too I 'de nail it to the ground from whence it should never fly to fetch revenge but no matter when I have poured out my lust into the kennel of thy body I 'le wash away with thy blood those pollutions wherewith thy soul in the commixture may have stained mine This said he binds her fair hands with her hair that lovely hair that had fettered and bound so many hearts must now bind her own hands and tears her garments and in despight of all her shrieking groaning crying weeping he at length unloads his lust and not content only to plunder her of her honor after he had thus demolished the Cittadel of her vertue but he with his Ponyard disenthrones those powers that should govern her faculties and seals pale death in the majestick throne of her Beauty and thus he leaves her like a fair flower nipt with the mornings Frost hanging down her head as if ashamed of her declining glory her face covered with hoary paleness as if deaths cold blast had congealed the dew of her tears into a hoary Frost But by this time the Sun having notice of the Tragedies acted in his absence by Nights permission had sent the morning as his Scout to draw the Curtain of the night and descry whether any such horrid Villanies as even resounded thorough the arches of heaven were committed under the protection of the Night whilst he came after with an Army of beams to depose her from her Throne of Jet but no sooner had he shaken his dewy locks wet with toying too long with Thetis in her watery bower but he beheld this ravished wounded Lady and no sooner beheld than he sent his light to call away a loytring dream that was sent of an Embassie from heaven to Polienus a great Nobleman of Crete that dwelt in that Forest to inform of this cursed act and to command him to revenge her When a deep silence hath fixt an intenseness upon the souls faculties then is the fittest time for divine impressions Though exemption from sad fates is not alwaies entailed upon innocence yet that unseen Nemesis
that runs through the whole machine of the universe seldom connives at the wrongs of distrest Vertue The bloody wretch had no sooner sent his Ponyard as a messenger of death to her but heaven stabbed his soul with horrors that in a frenzy he leaps from a Rock and dashes his body into as many pieces as his soul was torn with Fuâ—ies So apt a death did heaven prepare for one whose rocky heart had broke the neck of a Ladies chastity Polienus who as I said had been divinely informed of this Ladies misery awakens out of his dream and seemes to have a bloody mist before his eyes that represents all things to his surprized fancy horrid and tragical so that in amazement he arises slips on his morning Gown takes his sword in his hand and hasts he knows not whither to assist he knows not what But the heavenly powers who make use of earthly instruments to execute their reasonable decrees whilst men only act their own unreasonable passions and range humane disorders into a divine kind of order so ordered his disorderly steps as that in a short moment he came to a place where he heard a mournful groan which ushered in these words Heavens separate my spotless soul from this defiled body and as my life doth so oh let the extravagant follies of my youth pass out together Oh! Receive me where vertue shall ever be defended from all Villous invasions Polienus hearing this runs in a deep amazement some paces farther till he finds this poor Lady in a condition to have confirmed an Atheist but conâ—uted a Stoick by converting him into a weeping Heraclitus For she lay imbalmed in her own blood her hands entangled in her hair and in her shoulder there stuck a Ponyard that made a passage for such streams of bloud as deluged those beauties that inhabited her skin Polienus seeing this woful spectacle stood as if a profound sense of her misery had struck him into an insensibility At length recovering himself he runs to her snatches out the Steel that lay bathed in a fountain of blood and stops up the wound and feels her pulse to see if life had yet forsaken its fortress the heart where it last retires and perceiving the living bloud to move in her veins and sent as an Envoy from the heart to acquaint him that though life was streightly besieged in its Cittadel with squadrons of pangs yet it had not quite surrendered to the government of death he repairs the bloody breach as well as he could and runs home and fetched men from his Castle that conveyed her thither with all speed upon a downy Couch where her sent for Chirurgions with speed to her who with their extraordinary care and skill in a few days restored her to her primitive health and beauty When Polienus saw that she was recovered and no pretence of weakness could hinder his enquiry what should be the cause of her misery he using something more freedom of discourse than ordinary requested her to acquaint him whether some direful chance arm'd with merciless and inevitable fate or some accursed hand had endeavoured to put that untimely date to her life and happiness Glycera considering what great engagements he had laid upon her and that she might be justly thought ungrateful if she should deny so poor a request and therefore related to him the whole story of her misfortunes how she fled from the Nunnery in Thessalia to avoid the tedious Love of Pandion and how snatcht up by a Pirate who at Sea endeavoured to ravish her and then how in his rage being disappointed of his desires he threw her over-board but then how she was most miraculously preserved by a Dolphin that faithful friend to mankind in adversities upon whom she had rid up and down for the space of several hours without any hope of succour how she was relieved by a Fisherman and by him brought to Cyprus but when he had conveyed her hither how in all particulars he misused her not permitting her to go ashore and then to make amends for all his abuses how at last he sold her to a deformed Swain that carried her to his cottage and how the next day as she was going to be joyned with him by Hymens bands in Venus Temple a Knight came and rescued her from him but then what a tumult there was raised with the rusticks roaring and how that occasioned a combate between the Knight and others that thought to have forc't her from him as he had from Lacon how at length he was forc't to resign her up to them by that means to save himself but then how when they had obtained their prize they could not agree among themselves but fell upon one another with as much fury as before they did upon the Knight and how she perceiving an opportunity for escape fled into that Forest where she had wandered succourless and hopeless of succour for several days and nights But when she came to relate the dismall story of her dishonor poor Lady the tears fell from a cloud of sorrows that over-spread the heaven of her beauty just as if that transparent cloud that encircles heavens hollow arches had been condensed into â— Crystal shower and her faltring tongue left it to her countenance in sorrowful and yet bashful signs to declare her misery and there you might have plainly seen the pourtraicture of her bleeding honor adumbrated to the life in her blushing Cheeks Polienus observing her passionate grief grew more inquisitive about the cause so that with vehement importuning he scrued thus much from her in a broken manner that a villain would have forced her and would have killed her As soon as Polienus heard this he felt his heart even divided between the two passions of pity and revenge at length pity augmenting revenge gave that the soveraignty over his will so that in a fury he kneels down and implores heaven that the vengeance due to such an accursed act might light on him if he permitted that to the unrevenged and with that Glycera having given him a Character of him as well as she could he takes his sword and mounts his Steed and so rides out into the Forest in pursute of this wretch but ere he had gone a quarter of a mile he found him dead upon the ground having broke his neck with the fall from the Rock When Polienus saw this he was glad that heavens vengeance had found him out but sorry that any one had been the executioner besides himself but however he goes home to his Castle and commands his men to fetch the body and give it to his dogs Justice thus being done upon him Glycera began a little to allay the pangs of sorrow that daily had wont to stir up some great commotions in her brest and to entertain some small familiarity with miâ—th which had so long been exiled from her so that in a short time she was restored to her health and priâ—â—ine beauty
Government and the best means to supply the one and subdue the other the result of all was this that being Pandion would be thought to come to the Throne not as a conqueror but inheritor and considering that the manyfold exactions and impositions laid upon the people by Hiarbas to maintain his Army had provoked them against both himself and them the sad effect whereof was palpably visible in his deposition and destruction and that the greatest part of the Kingdom was already in subjection and under the command of his Garrisons and it was easie to raise a force to subdue that part that should rebell that therefore his Armies should be disbanded with promises of plenary satisfaction for their service which they said would be a great engagement to his people to Loyalty when they saw him esteem their love as his principal protection And as for the General that had done such eminent and loyal service he should be eminently and Royally rewarded and dismissed with his meâ— to march at his leisure And as for a Life-guard it was thought rather decent than convenient not any necessity but ceremony of State requiring it Therefore a certain number of choice Warlike Gentlemen were culled out to guard his Person whereof Celadon was made Commander These things concluded on were accordingly executed the Army being dismiâ—t with great thanks for their gallant service the person imployed in that office telling them how highly the King resented their fidelity and eâ—â—eemed their valour and that his rewards should be parallel to his resentment and esteem This done they further consult about the disposal of Hiarbas's Person but as they sat in Council arguing pro and con some making plain speeches the Keys to their thoughts others Pathetical Orations as windows to their desires but others attiring both their thoughts and desires in ambiguous Expressions which like changable Taffata might variously reflect their minds they heard in a Room underneath such a consort of doleful moans as exprest the wofull musick of a grieved mind Somtimes they might hear groans formed into words and words transformed into groans that sorrow seemed to build an Airy Pyramis under which it entombed all joy the deep-fetcht groans resembling the Basis as the shrill cries the Spire Paâ—dion hearing that gave command that the Authors of those lamentations should be brought before him to give an account wherefore they temporize with sorrow when joy was the Genius of those smiling hours No sooner was the command given forth than obeyed the Person being caused to appear and no sooner appeared than was known to be Danpion by many of the Lords that had acquaintance with him whilst he had acquaintance with a bright prosperity in Hiarbas's Court but to Pandion only to be that servant of Hiarbas whom he had sentenced to dye which when he saw not executed he seemed like one that travelled far from himself till the consideration that variety of occasions might well divert the mind of Celadon interrupted the farther progress of his thoughts and gave him occasion to charge strictly that executiâ—n be speedily performed threatning with a look so severe as seemed to antedate his threatning no less than death for the least delay This said the Prisoner was led away but as he went none but might have seen in him a perfect image of captiv'd courage his rage not because he was to dye but that any other than a victorious Launce should force him to dye though imprisoned in his thoughts by resolution yet flusht forth at his eyes his countenance all the while representing the undaunted constancyâ— wherewith he armed his mind now he was to run the gauntlet with an invincible Enemy yet at the same time attiring his looks in such a graceful Majesty as if this was but his marriage-day with Death having consideration rather to what might become his own Princely greatness than the sordidness of his pale Spouse But just as he was going out of the door on the sudden a voice bolted forth these words A Crown becoms not a Peasants head Pandion hearing that cryed out What Treason 's that But scarce had the cadence of his voyce put a period to his speech but a fearfull spectacle soon answered his fearfull Interrogation and deprived him of his fear by presenting the evil he feared for presently there issued out from under the Hangings men clad in Armour with naked Swords who seized on Pandion in the midst of all his Pomp whilst he was dictating Lawes with his Looks and commanding observance with his Brow and hale him out of his Throne disarray him of his Robes rob him of that golden Jayl that imprison'd his head and plunder him of all his splendor So soon can a tempest of misery wash away a new gilded Fortune Thus every Jewel of a Princes Diadem is a Star of most malignant influence to Usurpers Scarce this was done before Danpion was call'd back with speed and no sooner turned than received by Hiarbas's General with all humility upon his knees whom Danpion strictly observing he knew to be his friend Athalus With that he caused him to arise and with great joy embraced him telling him that now he had found him to be a composition of sincere friendship and that his soul was a meer extract of goodness and many other expressions whereby he testified his great resentments After which Athalusâ—shered â—shered him in among the Lords to whom he made an eloquent Oration in which he declared how that this Person whom they saw ready to be sacrifized to the revenge of a Traytor was the true Pandion rightful Heir to Agis which he confirmed by many Arguments but chiefly by Celadon's acknowledgment then present a chief Actor in this late turn and that the other that had hitherto deluded them was but an Impostor being a Peasants son his father at present living in Bâ—oâ—â—â— and that his name was Eumaeus which was also confirmed by the free and unextorâ—ed confession of Lumaeus or the counterfeit Pandion These things thus strangely brought about Royal Apparel was presently brought for Pandion who now commands Hiarbas's speedy releasment and that he should be brought to him which done he makes himself known to him returning him infinite thanks for all received favours telling him what a high-summ'd debt he had contracted from his Royal goodness After which he began to clear himself of that inexcusable incivility Bascanius's malice and treachery had reproched him withall confessing what flames Amphigenia had inkindled in his heart which neither life nor death but as he was farther speaking the thoughts of Amphigenia divorced his mind from every thing but Revenge that he presently commands that Eumaeus and all that had any hand in her death should undergo the severest punishment the Law in its strictest interpretation could inflict Eumaeus hearing this fell down on his knees and asked pardon but was not at all regarded till he confest that the Lady that was executed was not Amphigenia but