me sufficientlie judge him capable of anie thing that might afflict me I lost my constancie and moderation and looking upon the perfidious Antigenes with eyes inflamed with indignation Traitour said I to him is it thus that thou acquittest thy self of what thou owst to the fear of the Gods to the command of thy King the interest of thy Prince and the honour of our sex are all the considerations of honour fidelitie and vertue extinguished in thy soul or if they have no power to set the horâ—or of thy crime before thy face dost thou not fear to be punished for it by so many enemies as thou raisest against thy self by thy infidelity Madam answered the disloyal man I hope to be pardoned by Gods and men and your self too for the offence which you reproach me with and the Gods will not be angry with me for it seeing they themselves have visibly contributed to it Do not judge Madam by the constraint which I laid upon my self in respect to Philadelph that the love which formerlie I expressed to you is either extinguished or diminished it was never so strong and so violent in my soul as now as you may judge by this action seeing it makes me to despise all that any other man might fear in relation to the anger of the King and Prince Philadelph and abandon all things to confine my self with you in a place where without any obstacle or disturbance I may give you â—estimonies of that love which you have so much dislained Fear not Madam nor afflict your self your destiny will not be had with a man who adores you and you â—ught not to grieve for a Prince whose inclinations possibly are alreadie changed nor for a Crown which you never would have possessed and which you quit your self by retiring into Armenia To these words the perfidious man added a great manie others to cause some moderation in my grief but it was exasperated the more by them and throwing a look upon him that partlie signified my intention Do not think said I to him do not think thou monster of infidelitie that 〈◊〉 base flatteries can gain anie thing upon my Spirit thy Person which before I did onlie disdain is now made as odious to me by thy treason as the most detestable man in the world and most cruel enemie Do not hope that these thoughts may be changed but onlie by the repenting of thy crime and returning into the way by which thou promisedst thy King to conduct me into my own Countrie and be well assured that whensoever thou shalt add violence to thy flatterie thou shalt see that I can so much despise death that the face of it shall be much more supportable to me than thine Though Antigenes might partlie have known my humour in the time I had staid in Cilicia and have observed a great deal of constancie in my resolutions yet he believed I might be changed in time and being willing to let the heat of my first resentments cool he ceased from afflicting me anie farther with his discourse 'T is verie certain that in this encounter I had need of that little courage and strength of Spirit which the Gods had bestowed upon me and had it not been for the resignation I had to their will I should have dyed rather than have anie longer patientlie endured the mis fortune whereinto I was fallen Ericlea and Melite though they were well acquainted with my humour yeâ— they did not so much trust to it but that they alwayes kept close to me to hinder me from attempting anie thing against my own life They did not see me anie way go about it but they had much ado to make me take anie nourishment and I rejected all as poison which my infamous ravisher caused to be offered to me In fine they represented so many things to me and did so plainlie convince me that I ought to commie the conduct of my destinie to the Gods and that I might still hope for succour after the example of diverse persons who in as miserable a condition as mine had received visible assistances from them that at their intreatie I took something after I had fasted almost two dayes We passed the Streight which separates Silicia from the Island of Cyprus and being landed in that Island Antigenes put us again into the Chariot and with the same violence as before carried us whither he pleased He chose this retreat because his kindred were originallie of this Island and his brother dwelt there to whose house it was his design to carry me supposing that the news could never come to the King your Father nor to you and that being born of an obscure and unknown familie there would be no bodie to enquire after me or ever think upon me after I was gone out of Cilicia Besides if you should know the truth he believed he was secure being out of the dominions under your obedience and if he could conceal it as he hoped he should by the distance of place and the separation by Sea he had the conveniencie to return to Tharsus leaving me with his brother where he thought me secure and report to the King that he had executed his commission In conclusion whatsoever his thoughts were or howsoever I could expresse to him that he should never gain anie thing upon my Spirit either by fair means or by violence hee carried me to his brothers who was as bad as he whose house was situated upon the bank of the river Lapithus in a place verie solitarie and proper for his intention Hee was received there according to his expectation and I was treated there as a person whom they desired to pacifie with their caresses You are willing Philadelph as I suppose that I should relate these passages the most disagreeable of my whole life as succinctlie to you as I can possiblie and you will content your self that I should tell you without descending to the particulars of all the discourse I had with this perfidious man that he forgot nothing which hee thought was capable to perswade me and dispose me to his intentions He made a proposition of marriage to me as a great advantage for me and would have made me believe that my condition should be verie happie with such a man as he who passionatelie loved me and was master of no mean fortune that in time he should make his peace with you and the King your Father and might recover all the possessions and diggnities which he had in Cilicia and which he forsook onlie for my sake but I rejected his propositions with so much scorn that he not being able to endure such usage which judging of my birth as he did hee imputed to an unjust pride from fair means he fell to threatning and made me fear all things from the violence of his passion and the power he had over me You must have a Kings son said he to me sometimes in his choler and you will look upon no body under a Crown and such a Prince as Philadelph This ambition is very laudable Delia but you may be verie certain that Philadelph dreams no more of you and if the King his Father had
up both together and coming neerer to her with an action full of civility and deference What Madam cryed they out both at once are you a Kings Daughter I am replyed the Princess and in the present condition of my affairs I should have reason enough to conceal it rather than publish it if I had not received a command to do it from two persons whom I wil obey being a Princess as I ought to obey them being a Slave Elisa the more confounded of the two as remembring that she had received services from that Princess that are not usually received but from persons of the meanest birth spake first and expressing her shame by a blush that mounted into her cheeks Ah Madam said she in whas manner shall I repair the faults I have committed against a Princess of an equal birth to mine I have no regret replyed the Princely Slave for the services I have rendred you and I will willingly continue out of inclination that which I have begun in respect to my fortune which hath made me fall into servitude I have received from you but too many marks of goodness for a Slave and in the condition wherein I appeared to your eyes I could not have hoped from you the graces you have done me Ah Madam answered Elisa I am not excusable or at least I must make my grief my Apology which deprives me of all manner of knowledge and hath hindred me from observing in your countenance the marks of grandeur which discover your bi th If I have not taken notice of the absolute truth added Candace I have at least conjectured a part of it and if I have not taken this Princess for what she is yet 't is very certain that since the first conversation we had together I have judg'd her birth to be very disproportionable to her present fortune After these words Candace and Elisa embraced the Princely Slave who making no difficulty after the discovery she had made to receive their caresses with more equality than she had done a few moments before stretched out her arms too and received their imbraces with tears of tenderness which trickled down the eyes of the three Princesses out of the consideration which they made at the same time upon that fortune which treated three persons of so high a dignity with an equal rigor and brought into the same place from divers parts of the earth three King's daughters in an estate so different from their condition O humane grandeurs and felicities cryed Candace how are they abused that lay any foundation upon your stability and how much inconstancy and weakness have ye to blot out all the charms that blinded spirits find in you After these words and some others which they added upon this Subject they desired the Princely Slave to sit between them and relate the Story of her life the knowledge of her condition having much augmented their curiosity She made some difficulty to take that place in the habit she then wore for fear she might be surprized in a place which would have made her discover a truth which she desired to conceal But the Princesses would not permit her to sit elsewhere and to remedy the fear she had of being surprized they made one of their Maids stay at the entrance of the Arbor to give them notice when she saw any one approach The Princesses being thus placed the Slave was intreated again by the two others with all manner of civilities and caresses to discover them the events ofher life wherein they already took a great deal of interest and she being willing to give them that satisfaction without being any further pressed to it After she had meditated a few moments to recall into her memory a great many accidents wherewith her life was crossed she began her discourse in these terms The History of Olympia NOthing doth more strongly perswade me to beeeve the immortality of the Soul and the passage from this life to another more happy and more quiet than the miseries of the good and the prosperity of the bad and seeing the Gods are just there is little probability that they should suffer lives altogether innocent to pass away in misfortunes and lives highly criminal in happiness and impunity if we were not reserved to another life wherein vice shall receive it's punishments and vertue it's recompences If it were not so I should have great cause to complain of that providence which hath the Sovereign rule over our destinies having experimented in such a condition as mine and in an age which hath made no great progress miseries under which a long life would have groaned and an ordinary constancy possibly have sunk Adallus King of Thrace who was a great friend to Anthony and served him with his forces and his person in the famous battail of Actium was my Father and his Son who bears the same name and reigns at this day over that people is my only Brother I was but a very young Girl when the Queen my Mother died and her death was to me an irreparable loss for had she continued longer in the world she might possibly have secured me from a great part of those disasters wherewith I have been since overwhelmed The King my Father caused me to be educated with the greatest care and tenderness and the persons to whom he committed my education forgot nothing that might frame my spirit to all things agreeable to my birth I was brought up in good manners in the fear of the Gods and the love of Vertue and all means was used to work in me from my very Infancy an aversion and horror to Vice I passed my first years without the arrival of any remarkable accident or any thing that is worth the relating to you having a relation to make to you of such a great number of adventures so strange and possibly so little correspondent to what you expect of me that I should beleeve I lost time if I employed it in discoursing of things of small importance The change which the sorrows and the toyl of my mind and body have wrought upon my countenance will leave little credit for the report I can make of what it formerly was and not having preserved any footstep of beauty it would ill become me to go about to perswade you that I was once handsom yet 't is certain that this was the received opinion in the Country where I was born and that this beauty such as it was produced effects prejudicial to my repose whereby I have been reduced to the miseries wherein I have passed my wandring and unfortunate life I do not doubt said the Queen Candace interrupting the Princess I do not doubt but that your beauty hath been more accomplished than your modesty permits you to represent 〈◊〉 to us and if your grief could be but dissipated by the change of your fortune there is nothing so ruined and so defaced in your countenance but that in a person of
for so manie faults which my error hath made me commit against you 'T is that added Delia for which I have great cause to commend you eternally and though you had known my true condition I could not desire more respect from you than you have alwayes expressed to me Ah! without doubt replyed the Prince I might have perceived by so manie markes of greatness which appeared in your person and your actions that you were not born of an obscure blood and I had great suspicions of the truth which I have often communicated to the Princess Andromeda but this belief was stifled by the little reason we saw in you to conceal that truth with so much perseverance at a time when this declaration might have freed you from a great manie displeasures and given a great deal of satisfaction to those persons of whose affection you could not doubt I had some reasons for it answered the Princess which other persons possibly might have passed by but in those of my humour they were capable of doing what they did and if it were advantageous for me in your mind to declare that I was born of a Royal blood it was dangerous for me to confess that I was of a familie which is an enemie to yours and so much hated by yours that I could expect nothing upon anie consideration but a shameful and cruel usage from the King your Father Ha! Madam interrupted Philadelph though you were the daughter of Artabazus and the sister of the cruel Artaxus King of Armenia who by the death of our near relations hath done such bloodie injuries to our familie you carrie that in your countenance which might guard you from all dangers and you should have alwayes found me your slave that would have defended you to the last drop of his blood against his Father as well as against the strangest enemies I was affraid too upon your account replyed the Princess not of anie ill usage being so well acquainted with your vertue and goodness which without doubt would have protected me though Love had not interposed but some change or coldness in your affection of which I alwayes had a high esteem but since it is come to the proof of such a declaration I will make no more difficultie to confesse to you that I am Arsinoe daughter to the King of Armenia and sister to the same Artaxus from whom you have received such bloodie displeasures in your familie and this Prince for whom at first you had so much aversion is the Prince Ariobarzanes my brother of a verie different humour from the King his elder brother and who had no hand in that crueltie which caused so great a resentment against Artaxus in the Spirit of the King your Father See now Philadelph whether you love Delia still or the sister of Artaxus and whether I have not lost what my good fortune had gained upon your Spirit by being born of a blood which is odious to your Familie Ah! Madam cryed the transported Prince imprinting almost by force a fiery kisse upon Arsiones fair hand though Artaxus should have exposed me my self to the most violent effects of cruelty the Princesse Arsinoe his sister and yet my adorable Delia is no lesse amiable nor lesse worthie of my respects and I do not onlie continue in the former terms of my love to her but upon her consideration Artaxus is no longer odious unto me and seeing he is Delia's brother I would serve him with my life and blood Upon these words the Prince Ariobarzanes stretching out his arms to him And may not I said he who did no way contribute to those actions which gave you so just an occasion to hate the cruel Artaxus I who was a great way off from the place where they were committed and after I had heard of them alwayes looked upon mine own brother with aversion and repugnance may not I hope more justly than he that the same goodnesse which causes you so easily to pardon the culpable will incline you to love the innocent and those which have never offended you nor yours Philadelph tenderlie embracing Ariobarzanes What resentment so ever said he my jealousie caused in me to day against you you are composed of such admirable parts that it would be no difficulty for you to gain the hearts of your most cruel enemies and if any thing could remain upon my heart against you it would be because I believed you were the Lover of Delia and not because I know you to be the brother of Artaxus But Madam continued he turning to the Princesse you surprize me with your discourse I have been informed that in the King of Armenia's Family there was a Prince Ariobarzanes and a Princesse Arsinoe born both with admirable qualities but there came a report to us since that as they were going to Rome both Arsinoe and Ariobarzanes perished by a shipwrack which made all Armenia deplore their losse as being two imcomparable persons We did really suffer shipwrack replyed Arsinoe and I believe we are dead still in the opinion of the Armenians and of the greatest part that of those that knew us but the Gods to whom the person of Ariobarzanes was precious would not let him perish but saved me too for his sake This is that which I would now acquaint you with and after that I have briefly made known to you the reasons which caused me to conceal my self in Cilicia and which obliged me to depart thence I will give you an account of that which hath befallen me since our separation which hindered me from retiring into Armenia as my intention was to do With these words she caused him to sit down again in his chair and in the mean time the Prince Ariobarzanes not judging it necessarie for him to be present at a relation whereof he knew all the particulars and desiring to give the two Lovers leasure to discourse of their adventures with all freedom whilest hee went to entertain himself with those thoughts with which his Spirit was disturbed went out of the chamber to go and walk in a garden which he saw under the windows Onlie the Princesses maid continued with her own and Philadelphs Mistris and the Princess having kept silence a while to call to remembrance those things which she intended to relate she began her discourse in these terms The History of the Princesse ARSINOE THere are few remarkeable things in my life wherewith you are not acquainted those of the most importance befell me in Cilicia whereof you were a witness and the principal cause and you are ignorant of nothing almost but what hath happened since our sepatation and that I shall acquaint you with at large after that I have succinctlie passed over former businesses and those reasons which may defend me against your accusations I will not begin my discourse with the beginnings of my life which have nothing of importance in them but what is known throughout all Asia my first years passed
HYMEN'S PRAELUDIA OR LOVES MASTER-PIECE Being the SIXTH PART of that so much admir'd ROMANCE INTITULED CLEOPATRA Written Originally in the French and now rendred into English By I. C. EVAND Quid magis optaret Cleopatra parentihus orta Conspicuis comiti qu à m placuisse thori LONDON Printed by F. Leach for R. Lowndes at the White Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard 1658. To the most exactly accomplished in all natural endowments and acquired perfections Mrs. Anne Slingsby Only Daughter to Sir Anthony Cage Knight and Wife to the Honourable Henry Slingsby Esquire MADAM T Is the nature of Goodness to be diffusive and the Sun from his highest exaltation doth as freely communicate his heat and influence to the meanest Shrub as to the tallest Cedar This I experimented to be a real Truth by the favourable aspect which your Noble Father your Vertuous and never too much to be lamented Mother and your incomparable Self were pleased to cast upon me when I had the honour to be serviceable to a Branch of your Illustrious Family Providence hath put an opportunity into my hands to return a small acknowledgement of your Goodnesse and my gratitude or rather to give you a fresh occasion to exercise your indulgence in bestowing a double pardon first upon my boldnesse and then upon my faults A Captive Princess begs your protection and since her hard fortune hath deprived her of liberty she cannot think her servitude more glorious than in being a Hand-maid to your divertisement I am very sensible Madam how unfitly a Translation is addressed to you who are so well acquainted with the Originall Languages But my design is not to inform your judgement but to beg your Patronage that the luster of your Name may give some value and esteem to this worthless piece If you shall please in the least to own it you will render it the more secure from others censure and lay an eternal obligation upon him who will ambitiously court all opportunities to approve himself Madam Your most humble and obedient Servant JOHN COLES Vpon my Friend Mr. Coles his Translation of Cleopatra Dear Sir ENgland and France should joyn in Complements Your praises are a Theme tor Parliaments Poets do use to wish for tongues per Cent. And I would pay their use could they be lent You tune our Nation and delight our Ears With words of Musick like the Heavens spheres From France you bring these charms as though from thence Hermes were sent to teach us Eloquence Thus rare and choicer flowers transplanted are But lose no beauty though they change their air Edward Thurman In Cleopatram translatam DEseruit Gallos fortes visura Britannos Protraheret long as ne Cleopatra moras Vecta tuo Calamo venit hùc solióque relicto Non minùs in vestris eâ—icat illa libris Forma nigris nitet aucta notis magis inde venusta Ex Atramento fit Cleopatra tuo Edv. Thurman To his learned friend Mr. Coles upon his Translation of the 6th part of Cleopatra NOt that I dare to hope no ' though a Spring Of plaudits from my guilt should flow to bring And at your feet present oblations fit To offer up at th' Altar of your wit Not with intent some self-applause to win Is 't that I ' mongst your friends come erowding in But whilst with joy I hear so learn'd a Quire Chant forth your praise I only came t' admire Yet this I 'll say though Loveday did excel With 's learned pen now Coles hath writ as well Antho. Prissoâ— To his esteemed Friend Mr. Coles upon his version of the 6th part of Cleopatra LEt couchant Elocution come let phrase Humble and prostrate make approach and gaze Upon the beauties which thy pen doth shed In raising Cleopatra from the dead Thou 'st brought Elizium with her pure delight Unmix'd with terrene vapour exquisite Bring me a Star and I 'll dissolve it then Having therewith impregnated my pen I 'll dare attempt thy praise and speak it as Becoms him that would on thee paraphrase How big's my Muse how pregnant doth she grow How high's she got that was but now below What makes her thus to soar and mount the Air But only for to meet thy merits there This makes her break her bounds her modest bars To follow thee install'd amongst the Stars Where for my Muse does bid me make stand I can but stay to shake thee by the hand Because I must induced by her sweets Kiss Cleopatra now between thy sheets Where I divine being bedded with thy name She 'll in short time be brought to bed of fame And ' cause I am so certain of the thing I 'll bid my self unto the gossiping JOHN TRAVERS To the Reader READER HAving been formerly perswaded to break the Ice I have adventured to trespasse once more upon thy patience and to present thee with a Sixth part of Cleopatra after my rude manner done into English If I had known of any more promising undertaker I should not have envyed thee the satisfaction which thou mightest have received from a more elegant Pen But rather than thy expectation should be wire-drawn into impatience I have employed the few moments of my leasure to give thee a dim light to a farther prospect into the Story knowing that a small Candle may be sometimes serviceable when the Sun affords not his rayes and Cold water may save a thirsty man from choaking when more precious liquours are not so readily to be had Thy Candor only can render this piece excusable but in this I may rest secure that no man can have a worse opinion of it than my self Farewel Hymen's Praeludia OR LOVE'S Master-piece THE SIXTH PART ARGUMENT Cornelius Gallus Pretor of Aegypt is deeply taken with Candace's beauty He taketh an opportunity to discover his affection which she receives with much inward trouble and outward coldnesse The coming of Elisa breaks off their discourse Elisa acquaints Candace wth her dream and she gives her her thoughts upon it Walking together in the Garden of the Palace they over-hear the complaints of a fair Slave that attended upon Elisa Their curiosity prompts them to a further discovery and upon their request she relates the story of her life She speaks her name Olympia and herself daughter to Adallas King of Thrace Her own brother falls in love with her and discovers his incestuous desires which she entertains with horrour and amazement She opposes his passion with all the strength of Vertue and Reason but in vain She acquaints her Father with it who sharply reproves him and resolves to dispose of her but is prevented by death The young Adallas succeeding in the Kingdom armed his sollicitations with authority and threatens to compell his Sister to marry him She with a small retinue flies from Byzantium WHilst Love produced these sad effects at the Gates of Alexandia his powers were no lesse imployed in the City and the antient Palace of the Ptolomies that Tyrant God found in
about twenty years of age as you seem to be a months satisfaction may restore to its former condition and render you one of the fairest persons in the world I was never such replyed the Princess of Thrace and to expect the return of that mean beauty which the miseries of my life have deprived me of I must likewise expect revolutions in my fortune which really are in the hand of the Gods but so remote from all probability that I should be unreasonable to hope for them Howsoever it be that I may return to my narration at that time when my sorrows had made no impression upon me the King my Father thought me handsom his Subjects thought me handsom and the Prince my Brother to my miâ—fortune thought me but too beautifull I was younger than he by 7 or 8 years and he was almost a man grown when I began to be Mistress of a little reason I know not by what rigor of my destiny he found something in me whereupon to ground an affection different from that which he ought to have for his Sister I was not yet twelve years old when he bagan to spend whole days in bestowing his caresses upon me he sighed before me and hated all other company but mine I was so far from suspecting him of so irregular a passion that at first I took all these testimonies of his love for the proofs of an innocent amity I rendred him caresses almost in the same manner that I received them of him and I conceived an extreme contentment in having a Brother so good and so affectionate and it was without doubt by this indulgence to his love that I gave it way to increase to conceive hopes and to form designs which offended Heaven and Nature But when with a little more age I had gained a little more knowledge I observed in his affection and in his caresses some things that did not please me and I began to distinguish the transports of a violent passion from the effects of a pure and innocent amity I hardly began to doubt but that I received assurances from his own mouth and one day after he had continued a good part of it expressing his thoughts with more ardour than I desired at his hands finding my humour more repugnant to his kindnesses than he had observed before he took notice of my sighs What is the matter Sister said he and what have I done that can have diminished your affection as much as mine is augmented Is it because I love you too well that you cease to love me Brother said I I shall never cease to love you neither is it necessary that you should love me too much for all excesses are to be condemned and I shall always content my self with a moderate and rational amity such as a good Brother may have for his Sister Ah! Olympia said he for the name of Sister is cruel and cross to me how far is that moderate friendship which you require from that which I have for you and how contrary is Heaven to me in not causing you to be descended from the greatest stranger in the world rather than from the King our Father You wish me ill replyed I dissembling my thoughts and making as if I knew not his and if I were born of any other Parents I should not be your Sister That would be my greatest felicity answered Adallus the nearness of blood is the greatest obstacle that hinders the repose of my mind and the preservation of my life Yes Olympia I love you and I do not love you as a Brother with a weak and languishing amity but as an inflamed lover and as a man so desperately in love that if your pity doth abandon me I shall abandon my self to dispair Be not amazed Olympia at this Declaration my passion is not without example even in our own family the laws of love are stronger than those of blood and those that may retain common persons are not powerfull enough to bridle Kings and oppose themselves to the repose and lives of Sovereign Princes upon a weak and slight consideration This discourse the understanding whereof I could no longer dissemble stroke me with an unparalleled astonishment and troubled me in such a manner that for a long time I was not in a condition to reply You terrifie your self a ded the Prince seeing me in that confusion but if your affection doth but a little correspond with mine you will find nothing strang e either in my discourse or my designs Juno was the Sister and the Wife of Jupiter amongst our ancestors a like proximity did not hinder a more particular alliance and at this day amongst divers Nations of the world brotherhood is no impediment to mariage To these words he added divers others upon the same subject at the close whereof having had time to recompose my self a little and looking upon him with an eye that sufficiently signified the repugnance I had against his horrid propositions Adallus said I to him for the name of Brother in you is as little conformable to your discourse and designs as the name of Sister in me you fill me with so much shame and confusion that I knâ—w not how to behave my self one moment in your presence since I heard the words you pronounced but now Heaven Nature you and I are offended by them in such a manner that I would willingly give the best part of my blood that I could give my ears the lie and restore innocence to the most criminal thoughts that ever fell into the mind of a Prince Ah! Sir if you have any sence of vertue left oppose the motions of a horrid passion and do not dishonour your life with a stain so black that all your blood can never wash out I find no shame replyed Adallus interrupting me in loving that which the Gods have made most amiable in the world and beauty in the person of my Sister is as powerfull upon my Soul as in a stranger Princess we have so many examples of a passion like to mine that I shall but little fear the reproaches of men for a love of which I feel no regret in my conscience which would be the first to accuse me if there were any thing of criminal in it and in fine though it were a crime and a shame to love you I am carried to it by a power which I am not able to resist and engaged by a necessitie which will force me to love you to my grave without any consideration of reproaches or all the obstacles that you can oppose me with And for my part replyed I I am obliged by vertue and the nearness of blood which makes me look upon your intentions with horror and detestation to flie from you henceforth as from a Monster that would devour me and to offer violence to that amity which the relation of blood and reason had wrought in me to a Brother by the aversion I ought to have even
to my grave against your detestable thoughts You may do it added the Prince and you may behold my death with the same eye that you look upon my passion I do not know in which of these 2 actions you will be the less criminal either for having loved your Brother or for having caused your Brothers death You will not die said I when you shall render your self Master of this horrible passion which causes all the shame of your life and though you should die upon that account I should be very innocent of a death to which I shall have contributed nothing but what I owe to my honour which is dearer to me than your life or mine own I beleeve replyed Adallus that you will easily comfort your self for it I shall comfort my self better for that answered I very briskly than I should do for the crime w â—h you propose to me and though together with the loss of your life I must consent to part with mine own I should more easily resolve upon it than upon a detestable action the only proposition whereof makes me to tremble I did not beleeve replyed he I should have found you of so bad a nature possibly time may alter it and make you to consider that it is not so slight a crime as you imagin to throw a Brother and a Lover into his grave If I must part with my life for my Brother said I I will do it without repugnance but as for a Lover in the person of a Brother I will avoid him as long as I live if it be possible as my most dangerous enemy We had more discourse besides by which with as much sweetness as I could possibly I endeavoured to make him discard his passion and represented all things to him which might strike some horror of it into him with all the amity of a Sister and a rationality above my age But my endeavours were in vain and he patred from me protesting that death only should cure his love and that he would renounce his life if I would not preserve it for him by an affection equal to his own After this day he lived with me as a declared Lover and though his love partly blotted out of my soul that friendship which nature had there established and began to render him odious to me as a man whose thoughts were detestable yet such was his birth that I could not avoid him as I might have avoided any other person if I had had the design to do it and besides whilst I expected that time or reason or the Kings authority should procure some remedy I did all that possibly I could to conceal a thing of which as I thought half the shame reflected upon me and upon this consideration I could not openly express with what repugnance I received the Prince's visits because I would not divulge the cause yet I could not hinder it from being quickly known and he grew so blind in his passion that he lost all manner of discretion and by his ill conduct made all the Court sensible of that which he should have concealed at the rate of his own life The King had knowledge of it by a thousand too visible marks and when I was no longer able to support the persecutions of my Brother I took my last resolution to complain of him and to discover to my Father that which out of my care of his repose I had always concealed from him When he was fully confirm'd in this knowledge and when upon the discourse he made me concerning it I was constrained to confess it my self to him he was transported with anger and testified his displeasure by divers marks which wrought no effect upon the Prince's spirit He caused him to be called and after that he had signified to him with divers words full of sharpness the grief he had to see him fall into and persever in so uncommon a crime he represented the deformity of it in such terms as were capable to reduce him to reason if he had been in a condition to hearken to them but after he had given a very quiet audience to the Kings discourse and surmounted the confusion which his reproaches might have caused in him making an effort upon the fear which the Character of a Father ought to have imprinted upon his Spirit Sir said he I wish with all my heart I were in a condition to testifie to your Majesty the submission I have to your will and I would strip my self of my strongest passions to render what is due from me to my Father and to my King if reason and acknowledgement had preserved power enough over my spirit to retain it within the limits of its duty But Sir by the rigor of my destinie I see my self reduced to such terms that I have no power left to comply with you but only by making an end of my life if that be disagreeable to you 'T is true Sir that I love Olympia and I love her in such a manner that death only can free me from that passion which you condemn 'T is in this that my condition is more worthy of pity than reproach and seeing my self conducted by my ill fortune to the love of a person of whom I am not beloved a love coudemned as a crime by the King my Father I see no safety nor refuge for my self but in death alone nor will I seek it elsewhere but since I am so unhappy as not to find pity neither in the soul of a Sister nor of a Father I will escape by the only remedy wherewith my passion can inspire me from the long calamities to which it would expose my life if the course of it were not cut short by my final resolution He pronounced these words with so much violence that the King was much troubled at them feared some violent effect of his despair being well acquainted with his boyling and impetuous humour This fear made him act with the more sweerness to endeavour to reduce a Spirit which was not in a condition to be restrained by violance but all the things he could allege to him to make him submit to reason were but in vain and his love as it seemed being spurred on by the resistance that it found grew stronger every day and by its augmentation augmented my displeasure I passed above a whole year in this condition neither the treatments that I made him to extinguish his hopes nor the Kings dealing with him who from flattery when it was without effect oftentimes fell to threatning nor any humane consideration being able to remedy this disaster of our Family In fine the King beleeving that it was his last and surest expedient resolved to marry me to some one of the neighbouring Princes amongst whom there were divers that desired his alliance and he judged that by this separation from the eyes of my Brother his passion might be mortified and that all his criminal thoughts might be dissipated by
impossibility when he had executed his designs I know not what would have hapned thereupon if the poor Prince could have acted his resolution but to my misfortune it was hardly formed when he was seized by a violent Fever which laid him in his grave within ten days Before he died amongst divers instructions that he gave his Son for the government of the Kingdom he left him he exhorted him the most tenderly that possibly he could to quit himself of the love he had for me and threatned him with all manner of misfortunes if he persevered in it Adallus seeing the King near his end dissembled his thoughts and feigning that he was moved with these expressions of his Fathers last will promised him all he desired of him The King preached to me too upon the same Text and expresly charged me never to suffer that his family should be polluted with an incestuous marriage But this command was not necessary and the horror of my Brothers intentions was so deeply engraved in my heart that I had no need of the King's sollicitations to dispose me rather to death than to his shamefull consent The good King died to my great regret and his peoples grief whom he had govermed with a great deal of Justice and sweetness I will not entertain you with the complaints which this loss caused me to make you may judge Ladies that they were excessive and besides the grief which the nearness of blood could not but make me sensible of in the loss of so good a Father I was particularly interested by the loss of his protection who had till then defended me against the pursures of my Brother He was publiquely crowned in Bizantium and he had handsom parts enough to give his people good hopes of his government he is comely of his person naturally endued with spirit and courage and if that irrational love and the effects which it hath produced had not laid a blot upon his life that he will never be able to wipe off he would not be the least considerable amongst the Kings who at this day wear a Crown He began his government with the ordinary forms he rendred funeral honours to the King our Father with a great deal of magnificence and bestowed divers days about affairs of State and the establishment of his dignity giving me time to lament the death of my Father without interrupting me in that sad exercise by his persecutions And truly he made me conceive some hope that I might for the future be exempted from them and that the Kings last words or the change of his condition had produced this effect upon his Spirit but I saw my self cruelly deceived in this hope and whereas before I had had only the pursutes of a Brother to suffer who had no command over me I found my self subjected to the power of a King who demanded that of me with authority which before he had sought by the ways of love and sweetnesse Yet the first marks he gave me of the continuation of his love were upon the former terms and he was minded to make use of the civility of a Lover before he had recourse to the power of a Tyrant I will not tell you Ladies for my narration would be of too excessive a length all the amorous discourses that he made me for diverse moneths whereby he thought to change my mind and make me consent to mariage nor the answers I made him in that time to make him comprehend the foulness of the crime which he proposed and to imprint in his heart the shame of an action that would be detested by all the world He alleged to me instead of all reasons that Kings were not subject to the Laws they made themselves and that they governed themselves by other Maxims than they did their people At last having observed that the ways of sweetness were to no purpose and that instead of expressing any desire to comply with his intentions I conceived every day more horror against his design he resolved to employ his authority and declared to me that seeing neither as a Brother nor as a Lover he was able to move me either to love or pity nor make me consent to a thing whereupon the preservation of his life depended he was constrained to act as a King in his dominions and to seek his own safety by that power which the Gods and his own birth had bestowed upon him At this cruel declaration I continued rather dead than alive and looking upon himwith eyes that signified my grief and just resentment What Sir said I will you make use of your authority to force your Sister to an action which will draw upon you the indignation of Heaven and the detestation of the whole world will you not consider that I am tyed to you by such a nearness of blood that you cannot desire any greater alliance with me without rendring your self abominable and will you not call to mind that I am descended from too noble a blood as well as you to be exposed to that violence which is not practised against the meanest Subjects If I had any other ways replyed Adallus to perswade you I should not have recourse to those you force me to make use of and you know your self that I have forgot nothing which was probably capable to prevail with you but in the extremity whereunto you have reduced me by the hardness of your heart either I must needs die or serve my self with the power which I have received from Heaven to save my self Ah! Sir replyed I transported with displeasure you will not die but this unfortunate creature which hath so unluckily troubled your repose and by her beauty such as it is reduces you to the necessity of committing horrible crimes will die without doubt if other mean be wanting to deliver her from that authority with which you threaten her 'T was in you that I hoped to find protection against any forein power but since the Gods permit that in the person of a Brother I find a persecutor and a cruel Enemy they leave me those waies to free my self that are open to all the world The King was a little touched at these words but he was not a jot staggered in his resolution and looking upon me with an eye divided between submission and authority You have no reason said he to throw your self into despair for these testimonies of my love which any other person but your self possibly would not call persecution I think you cannot hope to marrie a Prince with whom your condition would be better or more sublime than with me and as for the crime which you fear if there be any it will lie all upon me who cause you to do a thing contrarie to your inclinations by the power which I have in my dominiorâ— This will be your justification before the people and your defence against the reproaches of your Conscience which you fear I will not proceed to
away with sweetness and tranquillitie enough and the time of our tender infancie was spent in a flourishing Court and a peaceable and fortunate Kingdom but I hardlie began to have the use of reason or any knowledg of our condition of life when by the cruel surprize of Anthony the unfortunate Artabazus our Father was carried prisoner to Alexandria and all his familie with him except Artaxus our elder brother who succeeded him in the enjoyment of the Crown My brother Ariobarzanes my sister Artemisa and my self lived in a captivitie in a pompous Court till I was about eight or nine years old and this loss of our libertie the sorrow whereof was so cruellie redoubled by the deplorable death of the King our Father which I believe no person is ignorant of was not repaired till after the defeat and the last misfortunes of Anthony and Cleopatra at which time Cesar being master of Alexandria and the Empire too by the fall of his competitour freed us from captivity and sent us back with an honourable convoy to the King of Armenia our brother whom he received into the number of his Friends and Allies Prelate this to you in a few words as a thing sufficientlie divnlged and I will not entertain you with the reception which Artaxus gave us who looked upon the wrack of our familie with great resentments for our common mis-fortune We lived in his Court with all the splendor we had lost and we recovered there together with our libertie our former rank and dignitie We were brought up my brother my sister and my self with great care and it was not the fault of those persons who were put about me that the slight advantages which I might have received from nature were not favourablie seconded by good education There was nothing forgotten which might frame my Spirit to the horror of vices and to the love of vertue and I will say if I may do it without offending against modestie that I had my inclinations naturallie carried to esteem that which seemed good and to avoid that which appeared to me to be vicious I had a good Governess the verie same you saw in Cilicia whom I made to pass for my Aunt who took a great deal of pains to cultivate whatsoever she thought she observed of good in me and contributed as much as possiblie she could to form me according to her desires vertuous inclinations About this time as you know the King my brother prompted by a verie just desire of revenge made war upon the King of the Medes your Allie and in the first year he had some advantages which made him hope the absolute ruine of his enemies 'T is true by what we could understand he dis-honoured them by his crueltie and the Gods likewise to punish him for it stopt the course of his good fortune by the succours you gave Tigranes which changed his fortune and forced him to be gone out of the Dominions of your Allies 'T was at that time that hee committed that action which hath been so much condemned by all vertuous persons to cut the throats of two Princes of your blood prisoners in a just war and against whom he could have no lawful resentment This was that which made him lose the valiant Britomarns whose valour had been so favourable to him in the first years of the war and upon the relation which was made me of the generous quarrel he had with the King for the safetie of his prisoners what cause so ever I had otherwise to blame the presumption of that young warriour I could not but have his vertue and greatness of courage in admiration and that esteem made me forget some part of the resentment I had against him Ariobarzanes who by the Kings command continued at Artaxata as well because of his youth which as yet was not capable of bearing armes as to keep the Armenians in obedience whilest their King made warre in forein Countries wept for regret and grief at the relation of this cruelâ—ie and made all those judge who saw him at that time that his inclinations would be verie different from those of the King his brother I enlarge my self particularlie upon this action of Artaxus because it was upon this account that the hatred of the King your Father was so violentlie exasperated both against him and his and it was upon the resentment of this action that he made an oath never to pardon anie person of the blood or Alliance of Artaxus whom fortune should cause to fall into his hands and it was upon this knowledg and out of the fear of this choler that I obstinatelie resolved upon so long a disguise in Cilicia You know better than I what were the last successes of that war and how at last it was ended by Augustus's authoritie who by the terror of his power made these Kings who were cruellie bent to ruin each other to lay down their armes and forced them to peace when the weakness of them both might sufficientlie have disposed them to it if their hatred had not maintained the war rather than their forces 'T is true said Philadelph interrupting the Princesses discourse that the King my Father retired with so much grief and resentment against Artaxus for the death of Ariston and Theomedes his Nephews that to revenge himself of that cruelty there was no cruelty but he would have exercised and I believe if fortune had made you your self fall into his hands with this miraculous beauty and these divine graces which might have disarmed the rage of a hunger starved Tyger he would have made you to have felt the effects of his indignation without any respect Do not think it strange then if I was affraid of him replied Arsinoe and do me the favour to believe still that the consideration of my life was not the cause of my greatest fears and I had not used so much care for the preservation of it if I had not thought it due to my honour which in his indignation an implacable enemy might possibly have exposed to ignominy to take the more severe revenge upon Artaxus's his cruelty I should not possibly have had this fear of a man born of a Royal blood and of one that was your Father if it had not been confirmed in my Spirit by the knowledge he gave me of it as you shall understand in the sequels of my discourse You know that a little while after this forced peace Augustus sent to demand Ariobarzanes and my self to be brought up at Rome near him with diverse Kings children which were educated there in the same manner and were kept by Augustus near himself either to testifie his affection to their Parents or to have a greater assurance of their sidelitie by means of those hostages Artaxus knew not presentlie what to judge of it but he durst not disobey Augustus's will of which in all probability this was an obliging effect on his part and having communicated to us the
the name of Ariobarzanes perpetually in my mouth and his visage eternally before my eyes losing no time in the mean while in making the shore to be searched every way by Briseis's servants to learn some news of him This affliction which absolutely took up my thoughts did not permit me for above eight dayes so much as to inform my self in what place we were but when I was rendred capable of some discourse and the first transports of grief were a little dissipated by a ray of hope which I conceived that the destiny of Ariobarzanes might be the same with mine I gave my Governess leave to enquire and I understood that we were but a dayes journey from the capital City of Cilicia This intelligence filled me with as much fear as I was capable of in my profound sadness and not being ignorant upon what account the King of that Country was an enemie to our familie and an enemie full of hatred which could let me hope for nothing but all manner of shame and ill usage if I was discovered in his dominions I resolved to disguise my name and my birth and understanding by Ericlea my Governess and by Melite who as you knew is the maid who is still with me that they had not acquainted Breseis with any thing of the truth I concealed my true name under that of Delia and my condition under that of Ericlea's Niece praying my Governesse to carrie her self towards me in publick as her Niece and Milite to treat me as her sister This was performed as I desired and the same day Briseis was informed by us of those things which we desired she should know and which were related to you a few dayes after I had diverse Jewels upon my cloathes which I took off the better to disguise the truth and I caused part of them to be given to Briseis by my Governess in acknowledgment of her generous bountie though she refused them a great while and did not resolve to take them till we threatned to be gone from her if she refused those small tokens of our gratitude and amitie We were upon these terms Philadelph and waiting for some favourable opportunitie to return into my own Country without being discovered I spent my time when I could get free from those women in solitude which was more agreeable to me than any company by reason of the sadness which the losse of Ariobarzanes had established in my soul when it pleased the Gods that I should meet you in that fatall wood whither our common destiny conducted us You know better than I all that befel me in Cilicia from that day till the day of our separation but you did not know part of the resentments and the thoughts which possessed my soul since that time I will give you a brief account of them before I proceed to the relation of that which befel me since your departure out of Cilicia Do not think Philadelph that I could look upon so many proofs of so pure and so perfect an affection from a Prince so highlie accomplished as your self with that insensibilitie wherewith you have so often reproached me I had eyes as well as any other person open and clear-sighted in the knowledge of your excellent qualities I had a Spirit capable of resentment for so many good offices as you rendred me and I had a soul upon which this resentment and this knowledg might produce all the effects which are not contrary to vertue I did really esteem you as much as in reason you could possibly desire as soon as by a little experience I had observed the conformiâ—ie of the exteriour qualities of your person to the beauty of your interiour perfections and this esteem was so stronglie fixed in my Spirit that I did not believe there was any person in the world more worthy of it than your self I began at last to approve verie well of your affection after that the puritie of your intentions was made known to me and I could not see a great Prince as you were love an unknown maid with so much sinceritie and respect and with a design to make her his wife without feeling my self tenderly obliged to such obliging intentions For a long time you gained nothing more upon my Spirit than this esteem and acknowledgment besides that I believed that this was all I could in reason grant you till then my Spirit had never had any disposition to engage it self in that passion which is a troubler of repose and which in my opinion how just a ground so ever it may have is not absolutely permitted with decency to persons of our sex I had seen but one man in my life composed of admirable parts in whom I observed particular thoughts for my self and though his person was such that if his birth had been proportionable to mine I should have looked upon him without repugnance yet the inequalitie which was between us made me look upon his boldnesse with aversion and rendred all his good qualities useless to his intentions I had my Spirit free then when I came into your parts and this liberry Philadelph defended it self a long time against all the testimonies of your love You began at last to make some attempts upon it and it does not trouble me to make this confession to you when I call to mind that the most obdurate soul in the world would have been moved with so many proofs of your passion Yet I opposed my self diverse dayes against the birth of these particular resentments till then unknown to my Spirit and to which my heart could not accustom it self I was offended at the weaknesse which I found in my Spirit and I endeavoured to fortifie it by calling to mind my former resolutions which till then had opposed all manner of engagement and by all the considerations which in the condition I was then might divert my inclinations from it The best remedy I could find for the defence of that which you too strongly aslaulted was to desire leave of the Princesse your sister to be gone and to flye the occasions of engaging my self any farther by leaving of Cilicia I had other pretences enough without discovering that and besides the desire of seeing my native Country and our family which without doubt had resented my losse with some affliction and of getting out of a condition which was so different from that wherein I was born and the danger which threatned me if I was discovered in the King your Fathers Court the troubles which I raised there and the divisions which I innocently caused between the King and you were a sufficient motive to make me hasten my departure out of Cilicia This was that likewise which I oftenest alledged both to the Princesse your sister and your self when I prayed you both to consent to my return You know I pressed you verie often to it and at last I had concluded upon it if I could have upheld my resolutions against the
grief which you expressed at this proposition and the protestations you made with tears and oaths and with all the marks that might perswade a veritie that you could not without dying endure this separation 'T was in that weakness Philadelph that I knew I loved you and you might have taken notice of it your self whatsoever intention I had to conceal it if you had considered that complacencie onlie was not capable of making me expose my self to so many disgraces as had almost ruined me through the indignation of the King your Father nor to make me continue in his Kingdom against the orders which he sent me to be gone and to put my self into danger of an eternal confinement and of poyson by which a little after you saw me reduced to the utmost extremities 'T was in this rancounter Philadelph that my soul received a very sensible impression for you and though I could accuse nothing for my approaching death but onlie your love in stead of having any resentment against you for it you did so move me with your grief that I was hardly sorrie for the losse of my life but onlie for your sake I should not at that time have desired the prolongation of it but onlie to bestow the rest of it upon you when the change of my condition and the consent of my friends would have permitted me to do it handsomlie You may remember how that when I thought I had been at my last gaspe I began a discourse by which you might probably judge that I was going to discover to you some things which till then you had been ignorant of and 't is certain that it was my intention to acquaint you with that then which I have declared to you to day and to free you at my death from the regret or shame which might remain to you for having debased your thoughts and your designes toâ— person unworthy of you in regard of her birth Alas cryed Philadelph interrupting the Princesses discourse with a sigh Alas Madam how well do I remember that passage of my life and how often hath it come into my memory since our separation as one of the most remarkeable things and most worthy to be fixed in my memory 'T is true that when you were in a better condition you repented your self of the good intention you had had and though I urged you very much upon it you made as if you had forgotten what you had so well begun But since that time Madam after you had received such proofs of my love as could not in reason permit you to be thus close and distrustful of me and then too when by your vertue you had reduced the King my Father to desire and request so earnestly himself of you that which till then he had so much rejected what just reason could you have to conceal from me the truth of your birth and what could you fear upon this confession in a place where you were adored by all the persons who had any power there I was afraid of everie thing replyed Arsinoe and besides what I heard you say your self everie day of the hatred you bare to the King of Armenia which might make me apprehend some change in your affection for as for any other ill usage I was secure on your part by the knowledg I had of your vertue my fears were redoubled by an accident which discovered the Kings thoughts to our familie more fullie than I had understood them till then and I will tell you if you do not know it alreadie that about the time that you recovered of that sickness which reconciled you to him and he began to signifie by his discourse that he would no longer oppose your intentions he came one evening into the Princess your sisters chamber who having been indisposed that evening had no bodie with her but my self and two of her maids one of which read to her the historie of Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracuse When the King entred into the chamber she had newlie heard read of the crueltie which the Syracusians exercised against the daughters of that Tyrant making them dye the most cruel death they could invent after they had exposed them to all manner of shame and ignominy The Princess who had her mind full of the Idea of that which had been read could not forbear speaking immediatelie to the King with detestation and horrour concerning the crueltie of the Syracusians making imprecations against those barbarians who had used such young such fair and such innocent Princesses with so much inhumanitie The King after he had patientlie hearkened to her This action was very cruel said he but a just and violent resentment may carry us to many things and though I have not a natural inclination to cruelty the outrage I received from the King of Armenia in the death of my Nephews hath filled me with such a grand resentment against him that I believe that if fortune should put into my power any persons of his family of what age or sex so ever they were I should use them as bad as possibly might be to revenge my self upon that cruel man These words filled the Princesse who heard them full of horror but if they had observed my countenance in those emotions they would easilie have perceived the strange effect which they produced upon my Spirit All that night nor for many dayes afterwards I could not overcome the fear that this discourse caused in my Spirit and I conceited everie moment that I was readie to be discovered and exposed by the Kings implacable hatred against our familie to all manner of bad usage This was that which at last made me take a full resolution to be gone out of Cilicia and to wait for an opportunitie to put it in execution in good earnest Not long after it offered its self of its own accord when Tigranes being outed of his dominions came to Tharsus to beg succour and it was resolved that you should go at the head of an armie to restore him to his Kingdom This is another passage Philadelph wherein I confesse my weakness as I observed it my self in that transaction I believed that nothing but your absence could give me courage enough to depart out of your Country and if you had stayed there still I know not whether I should ever have been able to resolve to leave you in that grief whereinto as I might judge by former probabilities my departure would put you Besides Philadelph 't was not without some displeasure upon my own part that I disposed my self to be gone from you and you might have taken notice by diverse marks that you were not indifferent to me I judged then that I ought to take this time in your absence to free my self from all difficulties and from all the impediments which your affection and all that was on my part had laid in my way to hinder my departure but believing that without ingratitude I could not
part from you for ever and make you lose all the hopes which in regard of your love and services you might with a great deal of reason have conceived I desired partlie to exempt myself from the reproach which you might lay upon me for it and to comply with mine own inclination which would not have permitted me without grief to part with you for ever and upon this design I thought it best by some way or other which might not retard the effect of my intention to acquaint you with the truth of my name and birth and the place whither I intended to retire to the end that if you persevered in your affection after you knew who I was and to whom you ought to addresse your self you might find out some means to come and see me and obtain me for your wife of the King my brother by those wayes which are ordinarilie used amongst persons of our birth And moreover I will tell you and that will possible make you excuse in part the refusal I made of the honour which the King your Father presented me that though I might have been discovered in his Court without anie danger and though my inclinations had been more favourable to you I should never have consented to the marriage which was proposed to me without putting my self into the power of the King my brother and obtaining his consent in my absolute libertie and not whilest I was in the power of his enemie This likewise was one of the strongest reasons that made me hasten my departure for your sake thinking that this was the best way for me to be gone as soon as possiblie I could to that place in which onlie you could hope to find your satisfaction Behold Philadelph the naked truth of my intentions In order to the executions of them I meant to serve my self with that paper which I gave you and knowing the sinceritie of your love I made no difficultie to trust you with it after you had promised not to open it without permission Seeing you have lost it I will tell you the conâ—ents of it which were expressed almost in these words To Prince Philadelph I Am constrained at last to take that leave which you have so long refused me and to seek a retreat in our own familie where with more conveniency than in yours I may receive the testimonies of your affection Vpon this design your absence is favourable to me seeing it secures me from the complaints and reproaches of a Prince whom I could not leave in grief without resenting a great deal of it my self 'T is to the Court of the King of Armenia my brother that I retire my self and if after you know this you have any love left for the sister of your enemy 't is in that place you may seek for Delia in the person of Arsinoe and there learn that my birth is not inferiour to yours By this declaration I partly justifie what you condemned and you will know without doubt that the sister of Artaxus had reason to keep her self concealed in the King of Cilicia's Court and that a Princess of Arsinoe's extraction was obliged to a greater circumspection in the conduct of her life than a mean and unknown Delia. You know the wayes you must use to acquire me if you retain any desire to do it the enmity which is between our families will not hinder Artaxus from considering the obligation I have to you and the merit of your person if the King your Father desires his alliance I am obliged by decency and by vertue to submit my self to his will but as far as they can permit my inclinations to act for you I promise you that Arsinoe will be as favourable to you as you can expect from the honour and the generous treatment you have shewed to Delia. O Gods O omnipotent Gods cryed Philadelph having heard out the words of Arsinoe's Letter from how many pains and troubles and sorrows worse than death might I have secured my self if I had been permitted to read these sacred words wherein my destiny was contained O my too regular obedience and yet such an obedience as I can not repent of how many tears hast thou caused me how many torments and cruel traverses hast thou cost me Accuse your negligence rather replyed the Princess smiling seeing by your negligence onlie in not preserving of that which you say was so important to you you exposed your self to all the displeasures you have been sensible of yet I will willinglie pardon it upon the score of the obligation I have to that regular obedience whereof you complain and to give you some comfort upon that account let me tell your that though you had read that letter the losse of which hath so much afflicted you would have received no other satisfaction by it but onlie to have known that in the person of Delia you had loved the daughter of a King without knowing for all that the place of my retreat which hitherto hath been quite contrarie to my intention I wrote the letter in these terms I gave it to you and I exacted of you the promise which was necessarie for my securitie and I saw you depart if I may be permitted to say so with more regret than I expressed to you either by my countenance or discourse yet you observed by that that I was not insensible of that separation and 't is certain though I may be blamed for this confession that you were not so indifferent to me but that I felt the grief of it at the bottom of my heart I endeavoured to dissemble one part of it and discovered the other believing that I was so far obliged to you that I might without crime give you these marks of my acknowledgement and affection Nevertheless I would not quit your Countrie immediatelie after your departure that I might receive news from you which was verie welcome to me and that the Princess Andromeda might not judge by my suddain going away that your consideration onlie detained me with her During the stay I made there I heard with a great deal of joy of the happie success of your armes and the particular relation of your gallant actions in the glorie where of I interessed my self possiblie a little more than I should have done and at last when I judged that the affairs of that war were verie forward and that you might shortlie return into Cilicia I resolved upon my departure to the end that if your return was more speedie than was believed you might not find me in a place where possiblie your presence and your prayers would have staid me still contrarie to my intention 'T was the knowledge of my own weaknesse which made me hasten my voyage and I was verie sensible of the trouble I had to resist those tears and those marks of grief and despair which had retained me so long in Cilicia I will not repeat particularlie to you the difficultie I had to
obtain leave to go of the Princesse your sister but trulie you have this obligation to to her amitie that out of the care she had of your satisfaction she spared neither prayers nor teares nor anie testimonie of the most ardent affection to stay me I continued diverse dayes before I could dispose her to let me go and besides the displeasure she expressed at my departure upon her own consideration she protested to me that I could not have that design except I meant to take away your life and that I committed an action of ingratitude and inhumanitie unworthie of my self I told her but in vain that the matter was not so bad as she made it and that in the letter which I had given you you would find wherewith to comfort your self and all the address you could desire towards an absolute satisfaction and contentment which doubtless would be more dear to him than my continuance in Cilicia She took all this discourse for a put-off and I believe I had never wrought her to consent if she had not remembred the request you made to the King and to her to use fair means onlie to retain me and not to offer me anie violence This consideration brought her at last to that which I desired of her when she saw that my resolution could not be altered she acquainted the King with it her self and prayed him as I had requested her to cause me to be safelie conducted to one of the Cities under the obedience of the King of Armenia I desired no more for fear of declaring my self too far and I knew well enough that when I discovered my self in the King my brothers dominions I should find all manner of assistance and convoy to Artaxata The King himself after the Princess had done employed a great deal of care to stay me and protested diverse times to me that he was as desirous now that I should be his daughter as he had been averse from it before At last when he saw me resolved upon my design he offered me all I could desire for my voyage and after he had considered whom he might trust to conduct me he gave the employment to Antigenes This man at first I suspected because he had formerlie made love to me with a great deal of earnestness and with assurance to marrie me by the Kings favour who as you know upheld him in that design yet remembring how he had behaved himself towards me since the day you prohibited him to see me the respect he expressed to me in all his actions all the Apologies he often made me for those things which he was constrained to do in obedience to the Kings command I believed he had absosutelie lost that intention which he onlie pretended for fear of incurring the Kings displeasure and I as easilie imagined that he would acquit himself of his commission with more affection than another that by that means he might the better gain his Prince's favour At last I disposed my self to depart under his conduct after the King had assured me of his fidelitie and discretion and after I had taken my last leave of the Princess Andromeda with a great manie tears upon both sides and received from the King all the testimonies of love and good-will I mounted with my Governess and Melite into a Chariot which the King caused to be provided for us and Antigenes accompanied us on horseback being attended by seven or eight men in the samâ— equipage The good usage I received from the King your Father after your departure the endeavours hee used to retain me and the belief I owe to the word of a King and of a King who is the Father of Philadelph alwayes hindred me from suspecting the treason that was practised against me which might proceed onlie from the villanie of that person which committed it or if it was by anie order I never accused anie bodie for it but the Queen your Stepnother who hath alwayes born a great deal of reentment against me for being though innocentlie â—n hindrance to your marriage with the Princesse â—â—ania her daughter Howsoever it was we deparâ—ed from Tharjus and travailed the first stage the direct way to Armenia but the next morning without being perceived by me by reason of the little knowledge I had of the wayes Antigenes made us â—ke one quite contrarie and having no bodie with â—m but such persons as he absolutelie disposed of â—e followed his premeditated way without being â—pposed by anie bodie in his intention All that â—y I mistrusted nothing marching under the faith my Conductor and not suspecting anie such indelitie in a man in whom the King had reposed so such confidence but the next day I was amazed â—hen I saw my self upon the Sea side and saw a â—essel that waited for us by Antigenes's privat order â—o which he told me I must enter Though I was so ignorant of the Countrie as not perceive the first cheat they put upon me yet I â—s not so simple but that I knew well enough â—t to go the direct way out of Cilicia into Armenia there was no Sea to passe and I had seen in the Map and had often heard that the way lay by land crossing over Mount Taurus and entring into Armenia the less I presentlie let Antigenes know as much and refused to enter into his Vessel telling him I knew verie well that that was not the way to Armenia Antigenes at first would have amused me with words and have made me believe that I was mistaken in my Map but when he saw me stedfast in my opinion and that he had no hope to get me into his Vessel by his discourse and perswasions hee took me under one arm and making one of his companions do so by the other these two men carried me by force and put me into the Vessel my words my cryes and all the resistance â— could make not being able to save me from it They which followed did as much by my Governess and Melite and they were not much troubled to dâ— it finding them fullie resolved to follow me in â— what part of the world so ever my ill fortune should conduct me In conclusion they shipt the charieâ— and the horses and after they had hoised up thei sailes they commanded the Pilot to steer toward the Island of Cyprus which as you know is sepâ—rated from Cilicia but by a little arm of the Sea You may judge verie well Philadelph withoâ— my striving to represent it to you what my gâ— was upon the knowledge of this cruel treason aâ— with what fears I was seized seeing my self in tâ— power of a man who had had the confidence of coâ—mitting this disloyaltie I am not naturallie apt be overâ—passionate and if I may say it of my self patientlie support the assaults of my bad fortuâ— but in this unluckie adventure by which I was come the prey of a traitour and of a man who by this action made
had any care of it be would not have committed you to the conduct of a man whose love and intentions were known to him He spake diverse other words to perswade me that the King your Father was not ignorant of what had befallen and that you would make no account of it when you knew it but besides the little disposition I had to suspect either of you of that infidelity I thought so ill of everie thing that came out of such a man's mouth that I gave no credit at all to it Milite when she saw him transgress the bounds of respect would have had me declare the truth of my condition to him and I was often almost resolved to do it but I considered at last that this knowledge in stead of making him respect me the more would have rendred him the more bold to injure the sister of Artaxus out of hope of being easilie pardoned by the King of Cilicia whose hatred was so cruel against our familie or possibly if he could not work me to his will he would put me himself into the Kings hands from whom I might expect the worst that could be if I were known to be the sister of Artaxus He kept me in this manner above two months at his brothers house who being as bad or worse than he employed every day both prayers and threatnings to make me change my humour But neither of them could prevail and the wicked Antigenes after he had tryed both wayes in vain at last flew out to the extremities of insolency and villany and let me know the perfidiousness of his intentions in a business that threatned me with manifest danger if the Gods had not succoured me I am going now to relate to you without any farther delay the most disagreeable passages of my story I was permitted to walk upon the bank of the river which washes the foot of the house and in a great wood which environed it in on everie side but never without having with me either Antigenes or his brother named Thrasillus or many times both of them with six or seven men at their heels One day attended by this convoy having followed the bank of the river where the walk was very pleasant and being gone farther from Thrasillus's house than ever I had been before drawing near to a little brook which there about ran into the river being bordered on both sides with a tuft of trees thicker than the rest of the wood upon our right hand some paces distant from us I heard after diverse sighs and sobâ— the voice of a man who by the violence of his grief was forced to complain in that solitary place before insensible witnesses At the first sound that reached my ears I stopt and lent attention but not out of any motion of curiositie which at that time had little room in my soul Antigenes who followed me staid as well as I and we had not long continued attentive but we distinctlie heard the complaints of that afflicted person To what intent said this disconsolate man to what intent wretch as thou art dost thou spain out the remainder of thy unfortunate life in an extremity of miserie when thou seest thy self abandoned by all hope what motive can any longer make thee endure this deplorable life which hath been divided between glory and mis fortunes and what effect at last dost thou expect from thy grief to execute that which thine own hand should have performed Dost thou believe that by that courage which hath acquired thee some reputation amongst men thou oughtest to support with constancy or rather with insensibilitie evils worse than the most cruel deaths from which one death onlie might have secured thee The Sun doth now unwillingly lend thee his light and after the perfidiousnesse and ingratitude of men whereby thou seest thy self exposed to so many miseries all things are contrary to thee all things are cnemies to thee there is no more day there is no more light for thee amongst men and if that which made thee love the day be yet a live it is no more for thee poor wretch it is no more for thee the outcast of men and fortune He stopt a while after these words and it seemed to me that this tone of voice was not an absolute stranger to me although I could not well discern it I turned my self towards Melite to communicate to her what I thought of it but I was diverted from it by the sequel of his complaint which he continued in this manner O the obscurest night O the most gloomy darkness how dear and agreeable are ye to me in comparison of this importunate Sun which possibly gives light to day to the Fortune of my enâ—mies All the rayes it darts upon me are so many witnesses of my mis fortunes and by its light henceforth I can behold nothing whereupon to fix my sight without repugnance since that for ever alas for ever I have lost the sight of my adorable Princesse Ah! my grief ah my just resentment is it possible that upon so sad a remembrance you can leave my soul in so great tranquillity Can you content your selves with a few regrets and a few tears which testifie my weakness as much as my affliction when you ought to have made your selves known to all Asia by Tragical and dreadful marks and by rivers of blood which should repair such bloody injuries Ah! without doubt my hand will serve me still upon that design and that valour which hath acquired me some reputation amongst men will arm thousands of them still in my quarrel if I would wear this sword amongst them to which heretofore they have attributed the gaining of battailes but alas I have my hands tyed by a respect which I ought to preserve to my grave and my adorable Princesse is so much the more worthy of it as she is innocent of my mis-fortunes and hath sympathized in them by her pity neither can I accuse any body of them but the cruelty of men and my own ill fortune The sad unknown accompanied these last words with a throng of sighs which stopped the passage of them and sighs and sobs were the only language in which his grief did conclude its expressions not a word more proceeding from his mouth that we could understand Some moments after having heard as I beleeved some noise in the place where we were and avoyding nothing so much as company hee arose from the place where he was to look out one more private and permitted us to see as he retired between the trees the handsome proportion of his body and part of his face By that which appeared to our eyes we knew that he was extreamly pale and wan and I perceived very well that his grief might
three enemies fell upon the Valiant Unknown just as he had cloven the head and half the face of the last of the others with a back blow He cared as little for these as he had done for the former and picking out Antigenes between his two companions he gave him a mortal wound in the throat with which he fell at his feet and presently after was choaked with his bloud and dyed My valiant defender received at the same time a slight wound upon his side which did but encourage him the more and hastened the death of him who gave it for as he was just turning his back to run away he thrust his sword into his reins and laid him dead close by Antigenes The last seeing so bloody an execution had not confidence any longer to resist so terrible an enemy and committing his safety to the nimbleness of his heels hee ran cross the wood in a deadly fright I cannot tell you whether was greater in me the astonishment at so prodigious a valour or the joy of seeing my self delivered from the hands of my treacherous ravisher or the horror of being amongst so many dead men who had lost their lives upon my occasion I was so amazed and so troubled that I had not so much as the power to return thanks to my valiant deliverer and I continued in a confusion not knowing how to begin to speak to him when hee approaching to me with his bloody sword in his hand and with a colour which the heat of the combat had raised in his face Your enemies are dead Madam said he and if there remains any thing to do for your service I have strength enough still to free you out of a greater danger He speake no more because astonishment cut off the thread of his discourse and he had no sooner cast his eyes a little nearer upon my face but he was full of amazement and confusion My surprize was no lesse than his when having looked upon him with attention and discerned the tone of his voice maugre the change which three or four years and an extraordinary palenesse might have wrought upon his countenance I thought I knew him for that brave and valiant Britomarus of whom I made some small mention to you in my discourse who by his miraculous actions of valour in a few moneths attained to the highest martiall employments in the service of the King my brother and quitted it out of a generous resentment against that cruelty which caused the King your Father's hatred against our family the very same who being puffed up with the glory of his gallant actions had the boldness to raise his eyes to me and the same whom as I told you I repulsed with choler and disdain onely for the meannesse of his birth not finding any thing else in his person which might not make him aspire to the highest fortunes I have heard much talk of Britomarus said Prince Philadelph upon this passage of the Princesses relation and besides the esteem which the same of his great actions hath given me for him the obligation I have to him for this last addes to it an acknowledgment and an affection which will render him dear and considerable to me as long as I live but why must it needs fall out that the punishment of the perfidious Antigenes should be reserved for any other hand than mine and how could it be just that any other but Philadelph should free his Princess from the danger whereinto she was fallen by the imprudence of the King my Father It was not necessary replyed Arsinoe that you should add that obligation to so many others for which I am redeuable to you and I had received sufficient proofs of your affection without having need of this last which without doubt your vertue only would have prompted you to upon the score of an unknown person reduced to the same extremitie I doubted still that my eyes did abuse me in the knowledge of Britomarus but hee cleared my doubts in defiring to satisfie his own and after he had looked upon me a long time with an attention that signified the surprize of his Spirit O Gods cryed he upon a suddain can it be possibly that you should be the Princess Arsinoe I am Arsinoe answered I but is it true that you are Britomarus Yes Madam replyed he I am Britomarus and Britomarus much more happy than he durst hope to be in the deplorable condition whereunto he is now reduced since he is permitted to see a Princess living whose death is published all over Asia and since he hath had the fortune to render you a service which may partly repair the offence by which I formerly merited your indignation These words recalling what was past to my remembrance made a blush mount up into my face but did not hinder me from returning him an answer in these terms The offence you did me might be repaired by repentance and discontinuation and the service which you have rendred me is of such a value that it may not only repair such an injury but command all the acknowledgement that is due to the generous defender of my life and honour I spake these words with a real resentment as without doubt was due to the importance of so great a service and yet I was not without some displeasure to see my self fallen again into the hands of a man that had made love to me and though by the knowledge which I had of his vertue I thought my self secure from those violences and dangers which I had lately escaped I was aftraid of the company of a man whom I could not look upon with a particular affection without being ungrateful to Philadelph's love and betraying my own courage which made me formerly so much disdain his presumption I believed too as we are apt to flarter our selves in the good opinion we have of our selves that I might have partly caused either by my disdair or by the report of my death his sadness and solitude and I did not make a suddain reflection upon the words which I had heard him speak a few moments before which might partly have freed me from that suspition I know not whether my countenance did any way expresse the thoughts wherewith my Spirit was at that time disquieted or whether Britomarus observed any thing by it but howâ—ever it was hee spake to me as if he had seen my very heart and resuming the discourse after hee had been a while silent If the discontinuation of my fault said he may make me hope for pardon I hope Madam that you will look upon me without anger and though such impressions as are received from such divine powers as yours can hardly be erased out of a soul yet 't is certain that mine hath repented of its boldness time and the fear of your displeasure and other adventures wherein my life hath been since employed have wrought that change upon me that I need not to be any
endured the declaration and progresse of my love without being offended at it and she hath sometimes puâ—fed me up with such a pride that I could hardly look upon the most puissant Kings upon earth as my superiours but if she hath served me in my glory she hath abandoned me in the repose of my life and hath left me nothing of all the good I received from her or my self but the regret of having lost all and the cruel remembrance of those fair hopes which possibly I had unjustly conceived Since this hard change or rather since this deplorable fall I wander like a Ghost amongst men finding nothing amongst them but ingratitude and infidelity and I spain out a languishing life by an absolute command which hath not permitted me to dispose of my destiny as without doubt I should have done if an obedience which ought to continue as long as my life had left me at liberty Britomarus spake in this manner and I perceived that hee was not willing that I should know any more so that I expressed no desire that way I only let him know that I sympathized with him in his displeasures and I did all that possibly I could by such reasons and examples as I alleged to him to make him hope for some happy change in his condition I was not so reserved towards him as he was to me but the second day I spent in his company I told him plainly all that had befallen me since his departure from Armenia believing my self obliged to put that confidence in a man to whom I was so much redeuable and not seeing after the change of his affections any reason which engaged me not to acquaint him with the truth I may truly say that by the relation which I made to him of your generous and sincere carriage towards me I rendred him very affectionate to you and hee often testified to me by his discourse that he should be much satisfied in the opportunities of serving a Prince whose vertue he infinitely esteemed upon my narration In the mean time I know not Philadelph whether I am obliged to tell you what place you possessed at that time in my memory and whether modesty will permit me to confesse that my thoughts were daily upon you as a person whose Idea did pleasingly flatter me and as a Prince whom without ingratitude I could not forget 'T is certain Philadelph and I will tell you as much without any fear that you should abuse it or make any ill construction of it that during the time I continued captive with Antigenes and at liberty with Britomarus you came oftener into my mind than possibly you should have done and when I complained of my mis-fortunes I complained of them more upon your consideration than upon mine own I will speak no more of this Philadelph and without doubt I have spoken enough to make you judge that I have wanted neither acknowledgment nor inclination for you Our stay at that house was longer than we expected and though the man whom Britomarus had sent to make stay of a vessel executed his commission with a great deal of diligence yet we were fain to wait till the wind which was then quite contrary to our intended course became favourable to our navigation and in the mean while by a mis-fortune which made me shed a great many tears and which I still do oftentimes deplore my Governess Ericlea whom you saw passe for my Aunt in Cilicia and to whom I had dear and tender obligations as well for the care she had bestowed upon my education as for her redinesse to comfort me in my afflictions with a great deal of constancy and firmenesse of courage fell sick and dyed within fifteen dayes I was very nearly sensible of this losse as well for the reasons which I have alleged to you as in respect of our friendship which was much more strongly established in my Spirit by our voyages and common crosses than if we had never stirred out of Armenia but after I had bestowed some dayes in deploring her death the acquaintance which I had long since contracted with grief did a little mitigate it and made me accustome my self to this displeasure as I had inured my self to so many other afflictions that my ill fortune had raised me After we had rendred her our last devoi S and furnished our selves with all things necessary for our voyage as well by Sea as by land we departed from that house under the conduct of Britomarus attended by fifteen or twenty men which continued still in his service and we went down the river Lapithus in boats which carried us to Cemunia where the river disembogues itself into the Sea and there we embarked the same day in the vessel which waited for us Our streightest way to go into Armenia was to return to Tharsus and to crosse all Cilicia and this way we had only an arm of the Sea to passe over but I desired to avoid all occasions of being seen again in the King your Fathers Court whither you might have been returned and where I might have been stayed by some accident and because we could not avoid passing through a corner of Cilicia Britomarus who was well acquainttd with the Map was of opinion that we should coast between that Kingdom and the Island which we lest and go land at the foot of the mountain Amanus hard by the place called the Streights of Amanus by this meanes our voyage by Sea would be much longer but our journey by land much shortened I absolutely committed my self to the good conduct of Britomarus and having so much confidence in his vertue I hardly enquired what his intention was He had a resentment against the King my brother for the displeasure he had done him by the death of your two Kinsmen which would not permit him to go to his Court and conduct me to Artaxata but hee promised me to bring me as near the City as I pleased and it was sufficient for me to be conducted to the first place upon the frontires where I believed I should find a convenient convoy and all things necessary for the performance of my voyage But the Gods disposed things otherwise than we had proposed and sailing with a favourable wind we had hardly lost the sight of the Isle of Cyprus when we met with a vessel of Pirats which having sailed close up to us with all the signs of peace and passed by us to view us without discovering themselves they had no sooner observed the small number of our men but trusting in their own which was a great deal bigger they turned their prow towards us and after they had cryed out to us to yield they fell upon us with a great deal of fury Britomarus clapt on his armour in a moment and encouraging his men with a few words hee put himself in the head of them with his sword in his hand and finding himself more fit for this kind