Effort of Courage Seneca affirms that for this much Vertue is required and that the bravest men ought to employ therein the whole vigour of their Souls And this Stoack who was as severe by his own inclination as by the Genius of his Sect who had been inured to the Axioms and opinions of the strongest Philosophy who had so frequent trials of himself against grief and death freely confesseth and in good earnest that he was become a thrifty dispoler of his bad remainders and had spared the dirt and dreggs of his Old Age to the end he might preserve the Spirit and youth of Paulâ—â—s who lived in him To this first Decision Which allows not to Women the use of poyson and Steel and imposeth an absolute necessity on them to survive their husbands I add a second which replaceth them in the freedom even in the Right and Duty of dying for them And the strength of this second Decision is not repugnant to the moderation of the former I say then that albeit the Law which forbids murther and especially all self-murther be express and general Yet in a perilous occasion where the life of a husband should be in danger his wife would be obliged to expose her self for him to this hazard and to give her own life for the preservation of his if there were an occasion of making this exchange I do not ground this obligation upon the right of Common Justice nor on the Duties of Charity in general Common and Universal Charity doth not extend so far I ground it upon the Right and Duties of Conjugal Love which is of greater rigour then the most rigorous justice and imposeth more Obliging and strict Laws then the strictest Charity And to begin with what is more particular and essential We know that the proper effect the specifical Function of Conjugal Love is to reunite two Moyties which the Creation hath severed and to reassemble Man and Woman into one body Moreover we see in all Natural bodies that the less Noble parts expose themselves by instinct to fire and sword in the defence of the Nobler We see that the Arms and Hands stuffen and extend themselves to meet the danger which menaceth the head to receive the blows directed against it To protect it even by their wounds even by their death and torture What our Members do by this instinct which is a more ancient duty then all Laws Law makers which is a blinde Love and a Natural Charity without merit a married Woman ought to do it freely and by election through the duty of this strict and rigorous Charity which Conjugal Love imposeth on her She is but the second part of the body composed by marriage Man to whom the Command belongs is the Head thereof and the Law which from the begining was imposed upon Woman to apply her self to this Head not onely ordains her to take light and Conduct from thence but also wils that to preserve this principle of her Conduct and this source of her light she should lay aside the care of her own safety and repose that she should take upon her self his dangers and wounds and even save him by her death if it will be received in Exchange Besides Love of its own Nature is a general Alienation of the whole Person that loveth It is a Transport without Contract or Hope of a Return by which one gives himself all entire and makes a free Donation of all that he hath and is to the Person he affects Now if this Alienation and Transport may be valid and of force in any kinde of love it is doubtless in Conjugal Love which leaves no right of reserve in Married Persons Which takes from them even the free use of their Bodies and engageth them in a mutual Dependency And this Dependency is yet more strict and indispensible on the Wives part who owes unto her Husband even the hairs of her Head and the very Dreams and Fancies which are within it Whether by Reason the subjection is greater and the Duties more Natural and necessary of the Body towards the Head and of the Accessory toward the Principal then of the Head towards the Body and the Principal towards the Accessory or whether because Wives give themselves with less reserve and love more Sincerely and with more Fidelity then Men This Alienation when it is free and compleat doth not only establish on a Husband a just Title over all the Cares and Affections of his Wife but it also establishes in him a new Right over her Blood and Life And albeit this Right cannot be exacted by Justice yet it may be done by Love which is a far less severe and vexatious Exacter but yet more pressing and more efficatious then Justice Nevertheless this Exacter ought to know that he cannot make use of this Right but in the Extremity of Hope and after the Tryal of all other Remedies An arm of a Man is not cut off to cure him of Rhume and Head-ach And one may say truly that this kinde of Love would play the Tyrant and Executioner and even cut the throat of a Wife to make a Bath for her Husband sick of the Sciatica or the Stone In the third place Love is a true and sensible Transmigration of the Soul or as some define it grounded on the Doctrine of St. Deâ—ys It is an Extasie by which the Soul ceaseth to live in the Body which she animates to live in that which she Loves Upon which it is not necessary to make a Commentary in this place nor to say by way of gloss that the Word to live ought not to be understood of the first and Substantial but of the second and Active Life of this sweet and sensible Life which affords Gust and Delight to the first Every one ought to know that Love is the Original and as it were the Fountain of Joy Pleasure and Satisfaction and of whatsoever hath a share in the sweetness of Life And therefore the sweet life of Lovers cannot subsist but in the place where they love Their minds are sick and languishing every where else All their thoughts which tend not thither are heavy and Terrestrial are Melancholy and burthened with Anxiety Their Musings and their Cares can follow no other Track And of those Souls it may well be said that they are Aliens and Incommodated at home And that their Bodies are to them as bad Innes nay Prisons and Sepulchres Hence it grows that it doth not only belong to the Duty but also to the Interest and Repose of a good Wife to Sacrifice her own life for her Husband and that the gain which may be made thereby is by two thirds greater then the loss Thereby she only hazards the most unquiet and worst part of her two lives She exposeth nothing but her Sorrows and Vexations for the preservation of her Joyes and Pleasures Of the two places where her Soul lives she only forsakes that which is sad and
the more burthened nor the more exposed to Tempests None being able to perswade these Barbarous People to receive her all entire she did not forbear in spight of them to imbark her spirit and heart with her Husband and that she might follow him at least in part she put her Body into a Fishermans Bark and exposed it to the Winds and Waves which carried away the rest Fortune favoured so couragious a Fidelity The Spirit and Body of Arria arrived at Rome at the same time And being re-united at their arrival did joyntly and with mutual cares sollicite the freedom of Cicinna Her endeavours finding ill success she resolved to die And she sufficiently explained her self by the reproach she used towards the wife of 〈◊〉 for surviving the death of her Husband slain in her bosom Her Son-in-Law Thrascus alledged all that he could devise to perswade her to live All that he could invent not prevailing with her You have a mind then saith he that your Daughter should abandon her self to the like despair And you condemn her to die with me when Fortune shall ordain that I must perish My Example doth not condemn her replyed she And when she shall have lived as long and with as sweet an harmony as I have done with Cicinna she may die boldly without my coming back to take the sword out of her hand or the poison out of her mouth Her kindred being advertised by this Answer that her Resolution was of more force then their Reasons they renewed their cares and diligences towards her She besought them to suffer her quietly to die and not to change an easie death into a painfull one Having said this she violently threw her self against the next Wall and fell into a swound Being come again to her self with much ado I did tell you saith she that all you could do was but to hinder me from dying quietly and at ease All the violent Attempts which Arria made upon her soul did not loosen the soul of Cicinna nor perswaded it to depart Honourably out of the World and without expecting the violence of his Enemies She went at last to see him And declared to him that if he had not courage enough to go first he ought at least to have enough to follow her She represented to him on the one side the shame of being continually made a 〈◊〉 game by a prostituted Woman and an insolent Servant who made a Scene of the Court and a Fantome of his Masters On the other side she remonstrated to him the Infamy which the Executioner left to the Ashes and Memory of those that died by his hands She often repeated to him that death was only terrible to irresolute and timerous persons That it doth never wound such Couragious Souls as loosen voluntarily themselves and prevent the hand of force That this last Act would be more looked upon in History then his Consulship and would be more resplendent then the Triumphs of his Ancestors And perceiving that he still deliberated between Resolution and Fear she plung'd a Dagger into her own bosom which she had provided for that purpose And then drawing it forth warm and dropping she presented it to him with these words which were the most Heroick and Victorious that ever issued from a Romans mouth Take this Dagger Cicinna it hath done me no harm Cicinna received from her hand with the Weapon the Spirit and Courage which came forth of her wound And died rather by the Magnanimity of Arria then by his own Courage MORAL REFLECTION LEt Christian Ladies learn of this Idolatress in what dis-interessed Love and conjugal Fidelity doth consist Let them observe how many Combats she hath fought and how many Victories she hath gained She had a present and future Interest in his Possessions and Hopes She was Young Rich and the friend of Messalâ—â— She might have left her husband to Justice and reserved her self for a better Fortune and a more happy Marriage Her Riches her Beauty her Youth were no Criminals They had not conspired against the Prince And it was not against them Commissioners were appointed and Informations given She rejected nevertheless the Temptations of her Age and Interest She listened only to her Fidelity and Love And taught her whole Sex by her Example that a good Woman hath no other Interest then her Huâ—band that to her there was but one Man in all the World and that he dying Riches Youth and Beauty die to her Arria likewise reads a second Lesson to Women which is no less important nor less useful then the first she teacheth them how that Person is deceived who said that Marriage was but a name of pleasure And that even now adayes they are much mistaken who believe it to be a community of Goods and Fortunes It is a name of Yoke and Affliction a community of Evils and Troubles a society of Cares and Labours And it is fit that young Women should be advertized on the day of their Marriage that they are not to be Marryed only for that day but for all the rest which are to follow how stormy soever they may prove and what unpleasing hours soever they may have They ought to know that with the person of their Husbands they espouse all their present and future Fortunes and that they are obliged to follow them to what place soever the wind drives them in what storm soever the Heavens pours down upon them But this veâ—ity will be more enlarged in the ensuing Question MORAL QVESTION Concerning the Duty of VVives towards Husbands in the time of 〈…〉 and Misfortunes I Could not as yet Divine why Married Women are crowned and 〈…〉 celebrated with so great pomp and with so much joy 〈…〉 properly and without a figure it is to adorn Slaves and 〈…〉 it is to lead them to Prison in pomp and jollity it is 〈…〉 them with Ceremony and Musick I am well read in the 〈…〉 Custom I see very well that Time Example and the 〈…〉 People are for it But I know also that Antiquity is neither all 〈…〉 Holy The first Men may have left us their abuses as well as then 〈◊〉 And old Errours are not better conditioned then 〈…〉 are not justified by the crowd of those that commit them It were 〈…〉 to the purpose and of far better example that the Weddingâ— of Christians should be grave and modest That the Ceremony should be serious and frugal and that instead of being an object of access and pleasure for new married Couples it should be a Lesson of Petience and a preparative to Troubles There would not be seen so many Rich persons â—â—umbred nor so many Innocent Repentants There would not so many complain of being caught by a specious bait who curse the flowers under which so many thornes have been hid They would have at least made trial of the burthen before they laid it on their shoulderâ— They would have measured theâ— forces with this yoke They would
necessary which hath the assistance of God and the Vertue of the Sacrament which is sustained by Nature and fortified by Grace Can it be either Interessed or Timerous with any Decency can it handsomly express a niceness can it apprehend sorrow and death can it avoid bad Fortune I might also affirm that this Duty is reckoned amongst the comely qualities of a Wife and the honour of a Family and that no baser perspective can be seen in a house then a sick and afflicted Husband and a gossiping and tricked up Wife This defect wounds generally all eyes and there are no Pictures in Italy not Forreign Landschaps there are no Ancient or Modern Figures can rectifie it Honor and decency is not only concerned therein but even contentment and satisfaction And as hands touch tenderly a sick and wounded head and as it is a torment to them if they be hindred from easing its pain and touching its wounds so a good wife who hath a heart truly fixed who is induâ—d and penetrated by the Grace of the Sacrament cannot have a purer satisfaction then to suffer with her husband And should even good Fortune her self tye her hands and feet to detain her by force with her and should hinder her from following her persecuted and unfortunate husband good Fortune would be abhorred by her with all her kindnesses and were her tyes made of Crowns and Diadems they would be unsupportable to her For these reasons Arâ—â—a accompanyed Cicinna to death after she had followed him through rocks and tempests 〈◊〉 dyed couragiously with Sâ—biâ— after she had lived nine years enterred with him Hypsicratea hardned the tenderness of her Sex and condition made the Graces and Beauty warlike that she might accompany Mitâ—ridates pursued by the Romans and Fortune And generally all the faithfull Women in ancient times have performed the famous and exemplar actions which we behold with applause in History EXAMPLE Jane Coeâ—lo the VVife of Anthony Perez Secretary to Philip the Second THe memory of Anthony Perez ought still to be fresh at Court We have seen him there a long time ago in Person And every day we see him there in his Relations and Letters I know not whether the name of his wife be so well known there but I know very well that this is the first time she appears in that place And peradventure she would never have come if I had not brought her thither It is convenient nevertheless that she should come and make her self known there She will there not only contract no bad habits nor will her vertue be altered by it but she will give also good examples to our Ladies and read them Lectures of Fidelity and Constancy She will teach them that Marriage is not a society of Pastimes and Traffick that the Duties thereof do not alter with seasons that its Tyes ought neither to be broken asunder nor loosened by Fortune She will teach them that they ought to be the same to their ruined and unfortunate Husbands as to those that are raised up to honours and in favour that they ought to love them as dearly under a Chain as under a Crown that they ought to bear respect to their ruines even to the pieces of their Shipwracks and to the instruments of their Punishments This wife and Couragious Woman was of the House of Coello who held an Honorable rank amongst the Illustrious Families of Spain But Nobility without Vertue is but the half of a good Woman It is a precious matter to which fair Features and a perfect Figure is wanting Jane Coello was not one of these shapeless and defective Nobles she was none of these rich and rude lumps of these Marbles which are only esteemed for the Name and Antiquity of the Quarry from whence they come All the features of a good Woman were compleated in her as the matter was there pure and precious And her Vertue was properly to her Nobility what an exact and regular Figure is unto a rare piece of Marble By espousing Anthony Perez she thought not only to have married a Secretary and the Favourite of a Prince a Minister of State and a great man in expectation but she believed to have Espoused all that Anthony Perez was and could be And prepared her self to Love him in what condition soever Fortune might place him If all wives entred into Marriage with the same foresight and preparation If in the Ceremony of their Nuptials and when they are to pronounce this word of Engagement and Servitude this great Word which cannot be retracted they did give themselves up in such sort to what is apparently Rich and Glorious that they still reserve themselves for what is poor and infirm to which either may be reduced 〈◊〉 behinde the Favourite and the Grandee they did consider the misfortunes and ruins which might happen to them there would be found more solid pleasure and more true satisfaction less disgusts out of Fancy and less considerable complaints in Marriages Bad Fortune would not disunite so many Couples nor make so many Divorces And Wives equally prepared for the misfortunes and prosperities of their Husbands would not change then hearts towards them upon every blast of wind noâ— would have so many different faces as are seen in the Moon Iane Coello was not subject to this inequality of heart nor to these varieties of looks She doth not alter them with bad times because bad times produced no change in her Husband And knowing that it was Perez whom she had married and not a Favourite and Minister of State she was the same to Perez Criminal and a Prisoner as to Perez the Confident and Secretary of Philip. History indeed speaks of the favour and credit of this Anthony Perez and gives sufficient testimony that his Credit was not a credit acquired at random and by meer chance He served a long time in the place of Secretary of State to Philip the second the ablest Prince of his Age and the most knowing in the Science of Princes He understood all his Policies and lived neer those Springs by which this King governed so many Kingdoms He was acquainted with the secret of that fatal Cabinet-Councel where so many Battels and Sâ—eges were designed where Europe was assaulted on all sides and new Territories invaded And without doubt he was not an unprofitable piece in this Cabinet and his hand very often set a going deâ—terously and with success those Springs which gave motion to so many Engines But as Fortune never makes a gift of her Person though sometimes she lends it And as the Court is not a Heaven in which fixed Stars are seen so Anthony Perez fell in his turn from this high â—levation and passed suddenly and without â—â—dium from favour into disgrace Some have written that the murther of Secretary Escoredo was the cause of his misfortune But those have seen but the outside of Affairs and have taken the Watch for the Spring We ought rather to believe the
the ill humours and bad Fortunes of their Husbands but it would have them sick of their Maladies die of their Deaths And as if it had not been sufficient to make them slaves undergo the yoke It made them also Sufferers and Victims and put ordinarily either a rope about their necks or a dagger in their throats The chief thing is that there was a necessity of taking that course to acquire the title of a gallant Woman And such as were able to endure life after the death of their Husbands could not pretend to the acclamations of their present Age nor to the Eternity of History Besides even in these dayes this cruel Custom is used in some parts of the Indie No Widows are seen in those Countries And Families are not prejudiced there by Dowries which issue out of them A Father of a Family being dead the Law of the Country ordains that he be put in an Equipage for the other World And that such things as had been most dear unto him should be burn'd with him The best beloved of his Wives hath this advantage by his last Will and the Right which Custom allows her She dresseth her self more richly and with more care for death then she had done for her Wedding-Feast The whole Kindred in Festival Garments and adorned like her Conducts her Solemnly and in Pomp to the flaming Pile And there she suffers her self to be burnt in Ceremony and with a more Natural and less affected Constancy then did the 〈◊〉 Philosopher who would counterfeit Hercules dying And presented a Spectacle of his death to the Army of Alexander I know indeed that this Superstitious and regular Cruelty of the Indians And that other tumultuary and precipitated Despair of the Romans and Grecians are equally reproved by the Laws of Christianity But I am not ignorant also that conjugal Love hath its Meritorious and Vertuous Deaths And there is some ground to doubt whether such kinde of deaths may happen by way of obligation and concern the Duty of a good Wife To this Question which is not of meer Curiosity but Instructive and Profitable I answer First that desperate and passionate Women who kill themselves to follow their deceased Husbands transgress against conjugal Love and violate the Fidelity they owe them This Proposition draws neer to a Paradox Yet exceeds not its bounds and Truth is there well ballanced One or two Reasons may Justifie it and draw the assent of the most devoted to the Memory of the Pantâ—â—â—â—â— and the Porcia's In the first place it will be granted me that the prime care of Lovers should be to nourish their fire and to keep it still in heat and action To delend it from all that might extinguish it And the least neglects therein are Temptations Doubts are Dispositions to change and commenced Infidelities Now this fire is smother'd in blood and by the violence of desperate Widows It is a great folly to believe that nothing remains after death The earth of Church-yards is too cold to preserve a single spark thereof An such as thunder out so great Oaths that their Ashes will retain everlastingly the heat thereof are highly guilty of Perjury unless they vent them by way of Poesie And if it be an act of Infidelity by tract of time and by piece-meal to suppress ones love from day to day and to deprive it by degrees of nourishment what will it be to smother it violently and on a sudden not to leave it a single spark which may inkindle it I know not how they will take what I have to say in this particular It is true nevertheless and must be spoken in what sense soever it may be taken Conjugal Fidelity is more hainously violated and the dead are far more injured by the delusive Courage of the falsely Constant Women that destroy themselves then by the weakness of those which will open their hearts to new Affections and run to second Marriages These at least preserve the Memory of their Husbands They still retain their Rings on their Fingers They keep their Pictures in their Closets and Hearts And the second fire which â—â—â—â—eth on them is not so incompatible nor so much an enemy to the first that it permits not some sparks thereof and a little heat in the remaining Ashes On the contrary furious and despairing Widows in what manner soever they voluntarily die reserve nothing of their first fire They destroy it even to the Matter to the very Ashes and Harth And their Husbands who might live long and quietly in their hearts perish a second time by the impetuosity of their Despair or by the obstinacy of their Grief Hence I infer a second Reason against the Falsity of impatient and despairing Love It is an opinion generally received and supported both by the Sense and Nature as well as by Speculation and Philosophy That Persons beloved have a particular Being and as it were a second Existency in the Imagination in the Soul and Heart of the Persons that love them They live there intellectually and by their Images And those Images are not dead Figures nor Impostures of a deceiving Art They have Life and Spirit they are true and Natural They possess all the Perfections and Graces of their Originals and have neither the Defects nor stains of Matter Now a Woman who kills her self out of a blinde and precipitious fury or who consumes her self with an obstinate and voluntary Affliction takes from her Husband this second Existency and this intellectual Being and Love by which he surviv'd himself She voluntarily annihilates and violently destroys that which death had left her And if she ought to make a scruple of defacing his Picture with what colour and pretence can she justifie the violence she offereth to an Image which was her second Life and Felicity in this World It is evident thereby that Constancy is not furious and that Fidelity is another thing then Despair That the greatest Love is not that which makes the most haste to poysons and precipices That Wives cannot more Religiously keep the Faith they owe to their Husbands not give them stronger proofs of their Affection then in rendring their Fidelity and Love durable and lasting Then in procuring them in their minde a life full of tranquillity and satisfaction Then in espousing their Memory and making a new Contract with their Images Then in carefully preserving those things which have been dear unto them And if they be good Wives they will not doubt but they were more dear to them then any Worldly treasure Let it not be said that this Philosophy is too remiss and indulgent That it pleads the cause of Nice and Effeminate Dames That it gives credit and authority to self Love This cannot be spoken but rashly and at random And surely as one may kill himself out of self Love and through an excess of tenderness so one may preserve his own life for the Love of another and by a particular
Melancholy And by the ruine of her Prison she secures her Palace And that by the choice of a death which lasts but a moment and is sweetned and purified by Love She avoids a Widow-hood which is to Lovers a long and bitter death A death of the Heart and Minde a death which endures and makes it self felt as long as it lasteth Thereby in fine her Love enjoys the purest and highest satisfaction whereof it is capable Which is to produce it self entire To fill up the whole Extent that lies open to it to pass even to the utmost bounds and to the last Tryals Now so long as it advanceth not so far as death there still remains a great Vacâ—â—â—â— before it And the most important and perswasive point is yet wanting to Tryals Being assured by the Testimony of Holy Writ that Perfect and Consummated Love is only found in such as Sacrifice their Lives for those who are dear unto them Moreover this last and Supream Duty which Conjugal Love imposeth on Wives and which it may also impose on Husbands is not one of those Duties in 〈◊〉 and Speculation whereof no Example is seen but in Romances The Couragious Spanish Princess whose Picture I have newly drawn was not a Fantome of that Country And so many others so well known in true History were not born in the same Places as the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 I leave the Ancient and Forreign Dames to seekers of far-fetched Curiosities The French Lady whom I am to produce is of a Family good and rich enough to be an Honour to her Country and Age And such as treat of Modern Vertues as of the younger bâ—ood will learn at least by this Example that the younger Daughters of France are nothing inferiour to the eldest Daughters of Greece and Rome EXAMPLE Margaret of Foixe Dutchess of Espernon IT is no new thing to hear me Discourse of the bad Intelligence which is between Friendship and Fortune It hath always been believed that Greatness was too much Interessed and Propriatory to love really and that it had a certain Pride and Rigour which left no room for Tenderness and soft Passions It hath been said that Love and Majesty never dwell together That it rather affects a mean and quiet Condition then an elevation exposed to Winds and Tempests And they that have resembled it to a Bird have not made it flie with Eagles nor placed it upon the top of Cedars and the summet of Mountains They have ranked it amongst Bees which are Armed and live like it of the quintiscence of â—owers and of the pure Spirit of the Planets They have lodgd it amongst Rose Trees where there is Fire and Thorns like its own But whatever hath hitherto been believed or said Friendship and Vertue are not equally at variance with all great Fortunes There are Grandeurs very Affectionate and wel-Natured as well as Rude and Intractable And if the Lizard which walks only upon his hands as Solomon saith be so bold as to ascend even to the Palaces of Kings and to dwell with them as their Domestique We must not believe that Love which is Nobly Descended and to whom so excellent wings are given is only born for Cottages There are no Houses shut against it And it shall appear by this Example into what House soever Vertue introduceth it there is no Greatness which gives not place to it nor any Interest which obeys it not The Fortâ—ne of the deceased Duke of Esperâ—on hath been long admir'd throughout all France It was likewise Extraordinary and Wonderful and there was not only colour in the pieces which composed it but also Force and Solidity they were all great and Illustrious In my Judgement nevertheless the decealed Lady his Wife was the greatest and most Illustrious of all those pieces nay the strongest and most solid though it lasted not so long as the rest This great Lady possessed in an eminent degree all the Qualities which may conduce to the glory of a Family and the happiness of a Husband Her Nobility was of the first rank And I know not whether in all Europe there were any Soveraign Title or Crown wherein she had not a share But there is a Nobility which is proud and insolent yet hers was Modest and Civil The Titles of her House did not puff up her Mind And the Crowns of her Allies and Predecessors made her not receive others with scorn To this Nobleness of Blood was added the Nobleness of her Countenance and that Soveraignty of Natural Right and Ancient Descent which begets Majesty in Beautiful Persons but she was not of those fair Ones who erect their Soveraignty into Liberty and Tyranny Hers still remained within the limits of a lowly and exemplar Sobriety Detraction which is so bold in lying and findes out stains in the most Beautiful Planets had not one word to say against her Nevertheless her Vertue was no sullen Vertue she was none of those curst ones who have not a drop of good nature who know onely how to scratch and bite She was naturally milde and cultivated by study and the Graces had so well tempered what might perchance have been over tart in her as she gave content even where she was severe But all these rare qualities do not concern the subject we now treat of my Question is about Conjugal Love and the deceased Dutchess of Espernon hath given an Example thereof which equals the force of ancient Models There are even in these days Illustrious and Remarkable witnesses which speak not of it but in terms of Praise But what ever they say of her Esteem and respects of her Obedience and Cares of her good Offices and Complacences though they speak nothing thereof which is not Great and Exemplar yet it leaves not so high an Idea of this Love as the action of Angouâ—â—â—â— In that General Revolution which happened at Court in the year 1588. The Heads of the Leagâ—t raised all their Engines against the Duke of Espernâ—â— and used both openly and privately all sorts of endeavours to destroy him However he was not shaken so that these Engines did onely assault the favour and good will of his Prince But as soon as Calumny took hold of his Fidelity and that he was accused for holding intelligence with the King of Nâ—varre his good Master who till then had defended his own benefits and interpos'd between his Work and those envious Persons who designed his ruin withdrew his Protection and consented to the Plot which was laid to seiz on him in Angoâ—leme The enemies which he had in the Cabinet Councel entended the Kings consent even to his destruction And Orders were sent from the Court to the Magistrates of Angoâ—leme to bring him alive or dead The execution of this dangerous Plot was defer'd till the tenth of August and that day the Magistrate who was not ignorant how hard a chase he had to follow presented himself with two hundred selected and armed men to seiz
not to make so great Account of an Embroideâ—ed and Tottering Greatness exposed to Tempests and Precipices Famous by its Shipwracks and Ruins And when they shall perceive that only Glittering things are subject to be broken that elevated Ones are liable to Falls and such as are swoln up do only burst asunder they will be affrighted with that which is the matter of their Vanity and will apprehend their Splendor Elevation and Pride Moreover Prosperous Fortunes are advertised hereby of their own Inconstancy and Frailty and the Unhappy of the Patience they ought to have and of the Merits they may Acquire In fine Men and Women of what Gold or Earth soever their Fortunes are Composed and in what Story soever of the World they are lodged ought to be instructed by this Example that no Condition or lazy Vertue can be Priviledged in this Life That the Carreer of Adversities is open to all sort of Persons That Providence Assigns to every one the Rank and Function which is proper to him That there is no Victory which is not preceded by some Combat and that it is a very great shame that Christians should endure so many Afflictions and expose themselves to so many Dangers for a handfull of Flowers which last but a day for a Perfume which is dispersed by the first blast of Wind for a Crown of Glass which may break every moment And that for Insatiable and endless Delights and for a Solid and Eternal Glory they should fear to endure but the pricking of a Thorne THE END A TABLE Of the Pictures Morall Questions and Examples The Gallant JEVVS Dâ—â—ORAH Page 1. Her Elogy p. 5. Moral Question Whether Women be capable of Government p. 7. Examples Isabella 〈◊〉 of Spain Arch-Dutchess of the Low-Countries p. 9. Margaret of Austria Dutchess of Parma Governess of the Low-Countries p. 17. JAEL p. 19. Her Elogy p. 22. Moral Question Whether there were Infidelity on the Actiâ—â— of Jael p. 24. Example Jone of Beusort Queen of Scotland Catharine Douglas p. 26. JUDITH p. 29. Her Elogy p. 34. Moral Question Concerning the choice which God hath made of Women for the preservation of States reduced to Extremity p. 36. Example Marulla of Scilimena p. 38. SALOMONA p. 41. Her Elogy p. 46. Moral Question Whether Religion be the principal Vertue of a gallent Woman p. 47. Example Margaret Moore the Daughter of Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chancelour of England p. 49. MARIAMNE p. 53. Her Elogy p. 57. Moral Question Why the most perfect Women be commonly the least Fortunate p. 59. Example Blanche of Bourbon Queen of Castle p. 61. The Gallant Barbarian Women PANTHEA p. 63. Her Elogy p. 68. Moral Question Concerning the order which a gallant Woman ought to observe in Conjugal Love p. 69. Example Indegonda and Clotilda of France p. 72. CAMMA p. 77. Her Elogy p. 81. Moral Question Why Conjugal Love is more Faithful in Women thâ—â— in Men p. 82. Example Sanchia of Navar p. 85. ARTEMISIA p. 91. Her Elogy p. 95. Moral Question In what manner a gallant Woman should mourn and what ought to be the Duties of her Widdowboâ—d p. 96. Example Blanche of Castile Queen Regent of France p. 98. MONIMA p. 103. Her Elogy p. 108. Moral Question VVhether it appertains to the duty of a gallant VVoman to expose her life to satisfie the minde of a jealous Husband p. 110. Example the brâ—ve Hâ—â—garian p. 112. ZENOâ—IA p. 115. Her Elogy p. 120. Moral Question Whether Women be capable of Military Vertues p. 122. Example Jone of Flanders Couâ—tesâ— of Monâ—fort p. 125. The Gallant Roman Women LUCRECIA p. 1. Her Elogy p. 7. Moral Question Whether Chastity belongs to the honour of Herâ—â—sses and great Ladies p. 8. Example Gondeberga of France Queen of Lombardy p. 11. CLOELIA p. 17. Her Elogy p. 23. Moral Question VVhether the Vertue of VVomen â—e as beneficial to the Publick as that of Man p. 25. Example Theodelinda Queen of Lombardy p. 29. PORCIA p 33. Her Elogy p. 38. Moral Question VVhether VVomen be capable of an eminent Generosity p. 39. Example Francis Cezely the Lady of Baâ—â—y p. 42. ARRIA page 49. Her Elogy p. 55. Moral Question Concerning the Duty of 〈…〉 Husbands in the â—â—ne of their Distresses and Misfortunes p 58. Example Jone Coello VVife of Anthony Peâ—ez Secretary to Philip the 〈◊〉 page 61. PAULINA page 67. Her Elogy p 72. Moral Question Whether Women be capable of 〈◊〉 Philosophy p. 73. Example Of Jane Gray of Suffolk Queen of England p. 78. The Gallant Christian Women THe French JUDITH p. 85. Her Elogy p 91. Moral Question Whether more Resolutiâ—n and Courage be required to make a Man Valiant then to make a Woman Chasteâ— p. 93. Example Blanche of Rossy p. 97. ELEONOR of Castile Princess of Wales p. 101. Her Elogy p. 107. Moral Question Whether it appertains to the Duty and Fidelity of Women to expose themselves to death for their Husbands p. 106. Example Margaret of Foâ—xe Dutchess of Elpernon p. 114. The Maid of ORLEANS p. 119. Her Elogy p. 125. Moral Question Whether Women may pretend to Heroick Vertue p 127. Example Isabella Queen of Castile p. 132. The Victorious Captive p. 139. Her Elogy p. 145. Moral Question Whether an Heroick Transport be necessary to the Perfection of a Womans Chastity p. 147. Example The Chaste Venetian p. 152. MARY STEWART p. 159. Her Elogy p. 165. Moral Question Whether great Ladies in Prosperity be not in a better Condition then those in Adversity p. 168. Example Margaret of Anjoâ— Queen of England pag. 173. 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sick comforted by her good deeds but Nations were conserved thereby and Provinces setled in Peace Wars extinguished Troubles pacified good Lawes established publick abuses reformed Heresies either humbled or abolished and a whole kingdom preserved in peace and quietly governed and with Justice These Royal Charities and Mercies of State are of a quite other Rank then the particular ones which are practised in Hospitals And the Crown of a Holy Queen which Blanch hath merited thereby may equal those of a holy Wife of a holy Widow and of a holy Nun which the purchased by her other Vertues But I look upon her here as a Widow and without doing injury to the memory of three others who were not set forth with so much advantage and who left lesse light behinde them We may well place her upon the Stage and propose her for the pattern of a modest and constant active and victorious Widow Her heart by the Death of the King her Husband suffered all that a Heart violently tâ—rn from another and divided between Grief and Love could endure But Reason and Piety prevailed over Grief and Love and so well ioyned the pieces of this Heart that a scarre onely remained without weaknesse or undercencie After this secret and domestick Combat sought against two predominant passions and authorized by Nature she began by the Cares and Duties of a Mother which was to her more intimate and of a longer standing then a Regent and applyed her first thoughts to the education of her Son Having a designe to make him a Holy Wise and Victorious King she placed about him able Religious men and of good 〈◊〉 who seasoned in him the first principles of Piety Men of businesse and experience who read him lessons of State-affairs and taught him Policie sutable to the time and practise Captains and Knights of Reputation who instructed him in the Science of War and rendred him one of the most Gallant men at Arms in the whole Kingdom Passing from thence to the Functions of her Regencie she began with setling Religion which ought to be the principle Pillar of a State And because she was not ignorant that the least Divisions in this Pillar might procure the general destruction of the whole building and that Conspiracies and Revolts are the ordinary Attendants of Schisms and Heresies she vigorously endeavoured the reduction of the Albigenses Her pains therein found so happy success as she dissipated the Remnants of this unhappy Sect And Raymond Earl of Tholouse forced by her Arms submitted to the Authority of the Church expiated the Apostacie of his House and the Rebellion of his Progenitors made publick satisfaction and in his shirt to that Religion which he had so often violated These happy successes of a most happy Regency did not hinder the Commotions of some disgusted Princes from shaking the vessel and indangering it in the midst of a Calm They did not hate the Princess who governed she was too amiable and ruled with too much Prudence and Grace But it vexed them to see the Stern in her hands and they were willing to take it from her with a purpose to break it and to divide it amongst themselves Noise and Tumult did not astonish the Regent not put her in disorder she dexterously managed the most tractable and brought them back by little and little to their duty she shewed her Sword lifted up to the most perverse and untractable persons And by her Prudence no lesse then by her Courage their raised Troops and plotted Enterprises were reduced to Deputies and a Conference Force having proved so unsuccessful to them they resolved to practise Treason and undertook to carry away the King as he was going to the appointed Assembly at Vandome But it is a dangerous thing to undertake to steal away a young Eagle from under the Wings of his Mother and to carry away by force a young Whelp from a Lionesse Blanch being advertised of their Conspiracie saved the King in the Castle of Mount-le-Hery and from thence brought him back to Paris with a strong Convoy and even the sight of the Conspirators to whom there remained only shame and despite which are the first punishments of discovered Treasons After these appeased Troubles the Duke of Brittany on the one side and the Earl of Champain on the other raised with new Charges a new party Blanch went out the first in the most rigid season of the Year The heat of her Courage was so great in this War and her March so speedy and vigorous that not being to be stayed either by 〈◊〉 which stopped the most rapid Rivers nor by the Heavens which poured down Snow she returned in few Moneths victorious over Winter Nature and Rebellion The Earl of Champain was defeated with less Noise and with gentler Arms. The King being already set forth to chastise him the Regent got before him and went to try whether perswasions might prevail without Force But he yielded neither to perswasions nor Force They were the Graces which vanquished him The face of Blanch left nothing to be acted by Reason or Arms It gained the Victory without Combat It concluded the Treaty without contestation or Articles And the Earl who was come forth a Rebel to the Son returned back a Slave to the Mother and a sworn Servant to them both All the whole Regency of Blanch was thus powerful And in the Field as well as in the Closet in Military no lesse then Civil Enterprizes she shewed that her Heart and Head were equally capable of the two parts of Regality That her Hands were as fit for the Scepter as for the Sword and that she knew how to govern as efficaciously as handsomly to overcome This so lively and beneficial light did not escape the being assaulted with very soul slanders which fell upon that which ought to be most respected and inviolable in a Woman But the vapours which arise from the Earth do not darken the Sun nor hinder it from doing good to the World and these Obloquies took not away one single Ray from the Vertue of Blanch nor hindred her from shining and finishing her Course peaceably and with Honour In fine to equal also in austerity and submission such as she had excelled by action and in the Government of affairs she imbraced like them the profession of a regular life Thereby the acquired out of the World the Regality of the poor and humble the Soveraignty of Spirit and interiour Unction She finished what was wanting to a Queen by adding to that Dignity the Title of Religious And the Veil which she took was to her a second Crown which gave a second Lustre and set a new value upon the first MONIME Femme de Mithridate se deliure de la tyrannie de la Fortune et 〈…〉 Monima YOU have heard of the Rout of Mithridates and of the last part his treacherous Fortune plaid him This extravagant after many phantastical prancks and dayly disorders at last entertained new
We ground our belief upon Natural Reasons and the Morality which Philosophy alledges for it We believe upon ancient Examples and those Modern ones which History hath conceived of it And if all others were forgotten we should have enough of this which is of our Nation which is present before our eyes which hath begotten astonishment in our Age and will give emulation to all Posterity EXAMPLE Francis Cezely the Lady of Barry THere are some froward persons who never esteem any but strangers and can approve nothing but Antiquity who generally dislike all that is of their own Country and have always a quarrel to the Age they live in These kind of People adore Demy Caesars of Plaister and Pompeys of Marble who time hath maimed and scarce cast their eyes upon entire and living Hero's of their own Age. They shew us Tamberlâ—â—s and 〈◊〉 as a wonder who are the Divinities of their Galleries and Closets They alledge to us Alphonsos and Gâ—smans not without an Elogy and incessantly Preach to us of Granadian vertues of a Moorish Wisdom As for French Vertues which speak their own Language and are born in their sight they cite them not but with a spirit of contradiction and to reprehend them These Gentlemen think much to endure the Aire and Soyle of their own Country And if they bear any respect to the Sun which inlightens them the reason is because it comes from the Indies and was in being before the Deluge We ought to harbour more reasonable thoughts and judge of things more discreetly and with more equity Vertues are not National nor tyed to differences of Time There are some of all Countreys and Ages And I may say that it is the same with those of these dayes as with our Sun which is as Great as in the time of our Progenitors and as luminous as that which produces the gold and precious stones of the Indies This will appear in the subsequent Example It is Modern and of France and more to be valued then all that Antiquity whether Grecian or Roman hath ever seen most Generous and Illustrious Whilst Henry the Third fought against the Head of the League about Paris the Provinces being torn in pieces by their own Members received dangerous wounds His strongest Attempts were upon 〈◊〉 where the Confederates had either taken by force or gained by practice all the best Places They only wanted Laâ—cate to become absolute Masters of that Province and to have free Commerce with Spain which was a great supporter of the League Being out of hope to possess it by open Hostility and to enter it like Lions by a Breach they had recourse to a Stratagem of ill example and sought out by-wayes to enter in like Foxes This Device being dexterously managed took effect as they had Designed And Monsieur de Barry who held Laâ—cate for the King being gone out with no sinister intention upon the Liberty which a short Cessation of Arms had given him fell into an Ambuscado which was laid for him The Confederates of the League conceived Laâ—cate to the taken with the Governour but they had neither taken his Fidelity nor Constancy And in case his Fidelity and Constancy should have been taken he had intrusted the place with another Constancy and a second Fidelity which were better fortified and harder to be taken then its Bulwarks and Half-moons I speak of his Wife whom he privately advertized of his mishap injoyning her by a few words written with a coal upon his Handkercher to repair as soon as possibly she could to Laâ—cate This Gallant and Generous Woman did not deliberate upon the Orders which required the conduct and courage of the best experienced Captain And because expedition was particularly recommended to her she immediatly put to Sea and exposed her self to the dangers of Water and Fire to Tempests and the Frigots of the Enemy And God who reserved her for a far more Heroick and exemplar combat ordained that she should happily arrive at Laâ—cate Mean while Monsieur de Barry was carryed prisoner to Narbâ—â—â— And Laâ—cate was there aâ—taqu'd by continual Assaults given to his Courage and Fidelity There was neither fire nor sword imployed in these Assaults A man of so much Honour and Courage who had contemned two thousand Pikes and as many Muskets upon a Breach could not fear a Dagger or a Pistol in a Chamber He was batterd only with large Offers and magnificent Promises with Governments and Pensions Unto which to Batter him on all sides words of terrour and threats of death were added against his Children and Wife in case he provided not for their safety by the rendition of the Place In all these Assaults Monsieur de Barry shewed himself a dis-interessed Servant a Couragious Husband and undaunted Father His Answer was That he had never known other Interest to preserve then his Honour not pretended to any other Fortune then the discharge of his Duty That Governments Pensions were too weak Arms to vanquish him That an innocent and unspotted Poverty would be more glorious to him and give him better content then criminal and sullyed Riches That the death of his Wife and Children which they placed before his eyes was a Fantome which did no wayes affright him that he owed much to his own Blood and Nature but far more to his Loyalty and Prince That his Reputation was never to him then his Family and his Conscience more interiour and of an older date then his Posterity That a fit of the Cholick might to morrow take away his Wife that his Children might be as soon hurryed away by a Feaver and that it should not be said that to reserve his Wife for the Cholick and his Children for a Feaver he had robbed his Prince of his Right his Country of Repose his Name and Race of their Honours When Laâ—cate was Battered in this manner at Narbâ—â—â— the Confederates of the League battered it at a neerer distance in a place which they conceived less Naturally strong And it was done with weapons from which they expected more effect then by Mines and Canons They presented themselves before Laâ—â—ate and demanded to speak with Madam de Barry who was prepared for all the sad events which so dismal a beginning might produce They acquainted her that her Husband was their Prisoner That after his lost Liberty he was still in the Eve of loosing his life that both nevertheless depended on her That an easie ransom should be set upon him And that without alienating his Lands without emptying his Coffers or pawning his Jewels in a word he should be restored to her for the bare keys of Laâ—cate This Lady was of a Family which a Canonized Saint and a Pope esteemed Blessed had in some kinde Sanctifyed By her Father she was of the Race of St. Roâ—â— By his Mother who was of the House of the Earl of Roâ—â—â— she came to be allyed to Vrban the fift Besides this Heriditary Sanctity
this Generosity was Heroick And Spain so magnificent in great words and in vast and high expressions hath no words so great nor expressions so vast which can equal it Nevertheless the action of a Woman and a French Woman hath surpassed it And the Loyaltie of Madam de Barry was so much the more Gallant and Generous then that of Guâ—man in as much as a dearer pledge and a more irreparable and sensible loss was to be hazarded thereby The Spaniard consented to the loss of a young Plant which was dear to him and made one part of himself But perchance this young plant was not single This part was served from him And besides others might grow up in its place The French Woman came not off at so cheap a rate she was to undergo the loss of the Stem and of all the Roots She was to suffer the Incision of a part which was inherent in her which stuck to her flesh and bones which was flesh of her flesh and bone of her bone which made up the moâ—ty of her heart and spirit And the chiefest matter is that this so difficult and costly fidelity was exercised in a time of trouble and tumult In a time when Laws were in disorder and Duties in confusion when Rebellion was Canonized by the People and Loyaltie made an Hackny when Soveraignty was Lâ—tigious and brought into Dispute when the oppressed Crown seemed ready to be torn in pieces or to change its Master The Command of Laâ—cate continued to this generous Widow And for the space of seven years she performed the Functions of it with so much courage and with so laborious an Assiduity as she left nothing more to be desired in point of her care and conduct By her presence she gave incouragement to the labours and exercises of the Souldiers She was assisting in their Duties and kept them in an exact Order and under a regular Discipline She Commanded pleasingly and with Dignity and she her self added example and the shew of action to her Commands And whatsoever an active and vigilant Captain Armed with Authority could have done in a Garrison Town this gallant Woman did it generously and with success she did it with comeliness and a pleasing grace The deceased King Henry the Great who esteemed nothing rashly and out of fancy highly prized this Generosity And when some Courtiers affecting the Government of Laâ—cate represented to him that a Place of such importance was not safe in the hands of a Woman He often Answered That he reposed more Trust in this Woman then in the ablest Man of his Kingdom That he knew not any one who could give so gallant an Earnest or so precious a Pledge of their Fidelity as she had done And that above all it concerned the honour of France to have it known that there were Ladies of that Nation not inferiour to Captains Nothing could be added to these few words They spake more then our longest Elogies can do They Crown the Memory of this Generous Woman and are a greater Honour to her then a triumphant Arch and many Statues ARRIE fortifie son Mary contre la Mort et par l'essay et l'exemple de la sienne 〈…〉 qu'on meurt sans douleur quand on meurt auec courage 〈…〉 Arria WEE are come too late and have lost the fairest piece of the most magnanimous action Rome hath ever seen The Actors as you see are few in number but all choice and famous ones And what they doe in private and without noise will be speedily carryed to Theatres and publike Places and wiâ—l receive Applauses from all free and Roman Hands You come not so far off and are not so great a stranger to Rome that you have heard no speech of Arria She is a modern Copy of the ancient Vertue she is a young woman and hath the Features of the old Republike Her Apparell and Speech sutes indeed with this time but her Courage Constancy and Fidelity are of the Sabiâ—s Age. And though she lives under the Reign of Claudius the Simple and in the Court of Messeline the Incontinent yet nothing of this Reign nor of this Court appears in her Manners They are of Lucrecia's Age or of some other far purer Time and less remote from the primitive Vertue Common Fame may have told you all that can be said of this womans Vertue but it could not as yet inform you what you see of her Courage Shâ— returned long since from Dalmatia following in a small Bark the Fortune and Ship of her Husband who was led away Captive You may have heard that he had been one of the Heads of the Scribonian Conspiracy and that he hâ—d liberty to pass which way he pleased to Messalin and Narcissus His wife perceiving him irresolute between Fear and Courage she her self took a couragious resolution that she might fortifie him by her example and teach him how to make choise of a Consular Death and equall to the 〈◊〉 and Triumphs of his Ancestors I could wish that we had been present at the Discourse which she newly had with him VVe might have heard the Images of the Cicinnaâ—s speak we might have seen the memory of Cato and Brutus and the glory of all the Defenders of Liberty laid before him to give him Courage To the force of so many Heroick reasons and of so many magnanimous words she added the force of her Example which is far more Heroick and Magnanimous And the mortall stroke she but even now gave her self set a value upon her Reasons and fortified them by a present Authority and by a Personall and still-fresh Experiment She exhorts him with her eyes and countenance as you see she exhorts him with her hand with which she presents him a Dagger But her most efficacious and pressing Exhortation is that of her wound which is a mouth of good credit and belief a mouth which can only say what it thinks and nothing which it doth not perswade This stream of blood which flows from thence hath her voice and spirit and this spent all warm that it penetrates the heart of Cicinnas dissipates his fears and coldness stayes his trembling fits and fortifies his weakness and raises up there against Death a true Patriciman Vertue of the Age of Liberty and of the spirit of Rome Arria accompanies with the sweetness of her eyes the vigour of this spirit and the shadow of approaching Death was so far from obscuring them that they never cast forth more fire they never diffused so pure and penetrating a light You believe peradventure that this is done by an effusion which is naturall and common to all Torches which draw near their end For my part I believe and believe it with more probability that this surplusage of light issues from the very soul of Arria which shews it self openly by these fair Gates to the soul of Cicinnaâ— and exhorts it to â—ally forth couragiously after her But from what spring sâ—ever this pure and
that the safety of States depends upon his Providence and not in the hands of Armies nor on the heads of their Ministers And to teach Conquerours that Victories are gained more by his Favour then by their Forces it was his good pleasure that a Shepherdesse who had never handled but a Sheep-hook should give more then ten times chase to above ten thousand Lances In fine God was pleased that a Maid bred up in a Village should perform all the Functions of Heroick Vertue that she should undergo all the Trials and obtain all the Crowns thereof And thereby he hath taught us that this sublime Vertue is not always found in elevated Fortunes nor still lodged in Palaces That no body is received by her for his own Condition That no body is rejected by reason of his Name or his Countenance that she only considers the heart which hath its Sex apart and Qualities differing from these of the Body And that Women who are more then Women by their Courage can ascend as high and approach as neer to Vertue as Men. This Verity is important and very useful And the ensuing Question which I am going to defend must needs Instruct with Delectation and benefit by way of Divertisement MORAL QVESTION VVhether VVomen may pretend to Heroick Vertue THE Heroes of whom there is so much mention made in History were not of the Gyants Race And their strength reached not so far as to root up Trees and remove Mountains Common people nevertheless who can comprehend no other greatness then that which tires the sight who know no other force then what begets noise and ruines frame Colosseses in their imaginations when we speak to them of those persons who are called Extraordinary And because they hear that men esteem their strength and prize their valour they believe in good earnest that these persons had Arms of Steel and â—egs of Brass and that with their Fists they did beat down the Walls of such Towns as they had a mind to take I think it necessary to reform this imagination of the Vulgar and to reduce it to a more just proportion It is not the heighth of Statute nor the strength of the Body which makes Heroes It is the greatness and elevation of the Soul It is the Courage and Resolution of the minde And there may be very elevated Souls and of the first Magnitude in little Bodies a mind extreamly vigorous may be found in very infirm flesh On that side then there is nothing which can diminish the right of Women or hinder them from pretending to Heroick Vertue And finally to render this right of Women more perspicuous and to support the pretensions of such as shall have the courage to raise themselves to that Pitch It is to be supposed that Heroick Vertue to define it rightly is but an excellent Vertue and elevated above common Vertues This excellency arises to her first from the Dignity and Eminency of her object which is Good considered in the highest elevation it may have Secondly it is derived to her from the perfection of the Faculties by which she acts and these Faculties receive their perfection from a spiritual and penetrating Fire which inlightens and purifies the Intellectual part which warms and transports the Appetitive Thirdly it arrives to her from the Nobleness of her principal functions which are to act vigorously and with resolution and to suffer couragiously and with constancy And because Action how vigorous and resolute soever it be even the most couragious and constant sufferance cannot attain to this eminent and prime Good but by a certain transport of the Soul which the Grecians call Enthusiasme this Transport is the fourth Cause which produceth the Excellency of Heroick Vertue Let us say also to leave nothing unsaid that the most beautifull and excellent form which Heroick Vertue gives to Love and Anger is a fifth Cause which addes to her a fifth degree of Excellency I speak here according to the opinion of the Ancients who believed that Love and Anger were the predominant Passions of Heroes whether because they are of a more subtile and combustible matter and that there enters more interiour fire into their temper then into that of other men Whether because these two Imperious and Soveraign Passions cannot be well purified but by a more Soveraign and Imperious Vertue then themselves nor can receive elsewhere and by an ordinary effort their last perfection and the fair forms whereof they are capable All these conditions contribute to the dignity of Heroick Vertue and raise it to a superiour Order where common Vertues are not admitted This Order nevertheless is seated in a place to which one may approach from all the conditions of life All great Souls are equally summoned to it On what side soever one ascends Women may ascend thither as well as Men. 〈◊〉 the most Eminent and Soveraign gallantry which is the proper object of Heroick Vertue is not out of their sight and cannot be above their Pretensions Nature hath not assigned them an end beneath That There is no bound beyond which they are exempted from cares and abandoned to their own sense There is no space wherein Good may not be to them more Good wherein Duty cealeth to oblige them wherein Vertue looses the rights she hath over them The Careir of Honour is to Them as great as to Us And in this Careir there is not one single place which is not marked out in which it may be permitted them to make a false step to suffer themselves to be overcome to abandon Gallantry to reject a Crown Moreover they are called to perfection as well as we And the Son of God who proclaims to the Saints and Just that they must not grow weary in sanctifying themselves and that they ought every day to adde some new lustre to their Righteousness hath not discharged Women from this labour nor marked them out bounds beyond which they may be unjust and far from Saints Not only then this Eminent and Soveraign Gallantry at which Heroick Vertue aimeth is not out of their reach but is within the limits of their right and enters into their duties And there may be occasions found which will not leave them the freedome of adhering to an inferiour Good Such Encounters and Enemies may come in the way as will excite them even to the last degree of Vertue or cause them to fall into Vice As for what concerns the perfection of the Intellectual and Appetitive portion which is as it were the head and heart of Heroick Vertue It is certain that these faculties are not different where there is diversity of Sex They have everywhere the same matter and are capable of the same forms The lights which descend into mens minds are not purer or of a higher Sphear then those that descend into the Souls of Women And from these equal lights derived from the same spring a like fire and of the same force may be kindled in the