be discovered and known by those exasperated persons if they saw me and that in the rage which then possessed them they would take away those small remainders of life there were in me rather then any way relieve me On the other side he saw me drawing towards my end was sensible he should dye himself if he were not assisted and in that perplexity nor knowing what resolution to vain to take he lifted up his eyes to Heaven and desired that of the gods which he thought it expect from men In this interim the woman comes to her self again and immediately discovered it by her mournful groans and lamentations she embraced the frozen carkase and bestowed thousands of kisses on a face all covered with bloud and that with such transportation as from whose violence Eteoclss could infer no lesse then that that of her love had been extraordinanary Dearest Teremanes said she sometime the enlivening light of my dayes but now a Luminary eclipsed by the interposition of eternal darknesse Are these the happy Nuptialls that were prepared for our loves and after the faithful test of so many traverses misfortunes is it in this fatal field that I was to enjoy thee Dear shade which by an unhuman thrust hast quited this body the object of my truest affections and wandrest yet about these shores in expectation of sepulture Infinitely beloved shade dost thou forsake me for ever And is it possible thou shouldst seek rest while thou leavest me in disturbances a thousand times more insupportable then that death which snatches thee from the embraces of thy faithful Eurinoe Many other exclamations to the same effect fell from her such as were the sad effects of her despair and which Eteocles would have hearkned to with more patience but the danger wherein we were or rather the desperate condition of our lives took up his thoughts so much that he could not afford her any longer attention But indeed it was not long e're he had another motive to discover us when the man that waited on that affiicted Lady being come neerer me and having presently known me out of a confidence he was of that I had fallen in that place and knew me very well by sight perceived withal that my eyes were open and that I was not quite dead They had not stripped me naked because of the abundance of bloud that was about my cloaths but they had taken away the excellent armour wherein I had fought and whereby I was so remarkable in the battel Eteocles had wiped the bloud off my face so that the man could with lesse difficulty know me again and thereupon returning immediately to his Lady Madam said he to her if revenge may abate any thing of your greif lay hold on the opportunity which the gods favour you with to offer a noble sacrifice to the Manes of Teramenes Here behold not onely his murderer but the murderer also of your Brother is yet alive and the just gods seem to have reserved those little remainders of life which he hath yet left purposely that they might in some measure satisfie your revenge Never did any Tigress fly out with so much fury at those that had carried away her young ones as that exasperated and desperate Woman did upon those cruel words She laies hands on a dagger which she spyed lying on the ground among other armes and running to the place where the man pointed she was immediately with me looking on me with eyes sparkling with indignation yet so as through which satisfaction she conceived at her intended revenge did in certain intervals shew it self Teramenes cryed she I am now going to sacrifice to thee all that is remaining of thy Executioner and shall meet with thee again with greater joy when I shall have appeased thy Manes with this victime With these words she comes up close to me who was lying on my back with my face directed to Heaven and my eyes open which I weakly fastened on the objects yet so as that I was not able to discern what past and lifting up her arm to thrust the weapon into my breast it was coming downwards upon me when Eteocles lifting himself half up put forth his hand and laying hold of hers with greater force then in all probability he seemed to have had in him Hold thy hands cruel Woman said he to her spare the blood of the gods and do not by thy cruelty shorten for some few minutes the noblest life in the World Eurinoe was so surprised both at the action and the words of Eteocles that the dagger fell out of her hands and she was at such a loss as to all resolution that she could only look on the man whom the gods seemed to have purposely raised up to prevent the effect of her resolution But at last her passion being still the most predominant in her mind her rage grew more violent then it had been before and running to another weapon which she saw not far from her Do not hope said she to Eteocles thou shalt divert me from the sacrifice which I owe my Teramenes and be content with this comfort that his Executioner hath but those weak remnants of life where as I should wish him a hundred lives that I might take a nobler revenge of them altogether With these words she comes to me on the other side and at a place where the assistance of Eteocles would have stood me in no stead desirous to execute her revenge with a greater satisfaction she would needs look upon me and so as she lifted up her arm fixed her eyes on my countenance Eteocles hath told me since that even in that languishing posture wherein I then appeared to the sight of Eurione there was something in me more beautiful then ordinary my eyes looked more gently because I looked more dejectedly then I should have done otherwise and my hair stained with blood in some places playing with my cheeks by reason of a little wind that then blew heightned the little beauty which still remained in my face whereof the paleness must needs be thought an extraordinary whiteness in a Country where ordinary degrees of whiteness are thought rare and admired I fine for my part I know not with what advantage I appeared in the sight of that incensed Woman but the arm she had lifted up remained in that posture and at the same time having gently turned my eies upon her with a feeble groane her indignation was disarmed at that object and the weapon fell out of her hand the second time The man that waited upon her thinking he did her a very acceptable service in egging her on to take the intended revenge put the weapon into her hand the third time and encouraging her to the action she would have done was ready to help her to put it in execution when the woman looking very passionately upon him Hold thy hands said she to him it is not the pleasure of the gods that I should put
could meet with no where else Elisa was in a very careless dress part of her hair fell upon her cheeks without art or order her complexion was extraordinary pale and her eyes were dulled with watching and red with their continual exercise of weeping and yet she appeared to the eyes of Candace and Gallus like a dazling Star and made them judge that neither art nor nature could produce any thing more beautiful or more compleat Candace being very much satisfied to find this agreeable diversion from the importunate conversation of Cornelius advanced towards the Princess with open arms and giving her the good morrow with a great many kisses full of tender affection she received the embraces and caresses of the fair Princess which expressed no less affection than her own After they had spent some time in some mutual embracings the fair Queen beginning the discourse I longed said she to know how you had passed this night and I had come to inform my self at your Chamber but that I was afraid to interrupt your sleep Alas replyed the Princess with an action full of tenderness and sweetness how little acquaintance have sleep and I together at this time and how ill an office did your goodness render me in depriving me for a little rests sake which is now stranger to me of a sight wherein I find all the comfort of my life Candace repayed these words with others as full of affection and Cornelius seeing them enter into a discourse which did not permit him to pursue that which he had begun with Candace after he had continued a while longer with them in a conversation full of civility he left them alone to go either to muse upon his passion or to employ himself in such affairs as his charge required After his departure the two Princesses began to entertain each other with more liberty than before and the first discourse being bestowed in the comforting of Elisa and upon the hopes which she might yet conceive of her Artaban's safety though she built but little upon them the Princess though she thought upon nothing else but the sad cause of her grief for all that observed some new pensiveness in Candace's countenance and having asked her the cause of it with a grace which left her no liberty to deny the fair Queen prefacing the confession which she was about to make with a little smile 'T is said she because I am a little more unhappy than you in that you did arrive at Alexandria before me for if Cornelius had seen the Princess Elisa before Candace Candace would not be exposed to that persecution which she hath begun to suffer to day Elisa easily comprehended the Queens discourse and receiving it with a modesty like to her own If it be the love which you have caused in Cornelius said she which creates you a new subject of displeasure I was not capable to guard you from it and what your powers have done in one day mine being far inferior to them could not have done in divers years If we had any other Judges but our selves answered Candace the part which you maintain would be very much weakned but in brief such as I am if his words be true my misfortune hath made Cornelius in love with me and he hath newly made a declaration of it to me which hath almost as much offended me as he obliged me by the assistance which he gave some days ago Upon these words she related to the Princess Cornelius his discourse and not desiring to make a secret either of his adventure or the more particular thoughts of her soul Besides the crosses which I foresee will befal me pursued she in the love of a man to whom I am obliged and into whose power I am fallen I cannot see without a great deal of resentment that he who possesses as the Lieutenant of an adopted Caesar the place which my true Caesar ought to possess as Soveraign raises his thoughts to the same place where he hath planted his and my dear Caesario hath received offences great enough from these cruel Enemies by the loss of his Dominions his Parents and Dignities though through his hard destiny the same enemies did not attach him in his love and in that thing wherein he thought himself secure from their persecutions You have a great deal of reason replyed Elisa but I believe that Caesario is very secure upon that part and that if his Enemies had no greater power in relation to the troubles and dangers to which they exposed him in his tender youth he had not only suffered very little by their persecution but had never seen any of the Dominions of Ethiopia I had rather answered Candace never have seen the light and though the affection I have for Caesario may cost me a great Kingdom that loss will be so far from diminishing the content I have to have seen and loved him that I cannot but take it well and acknowledge my self obliged to Augustus cruelty from which alone I have received my beloved Prince and without which though possibly he might have lived in a more peaceable condition he had not lived for Candace Heaven had ordained him for you added the sad Elisa and the admirable perfections of the fair Queen of Ethiopia could not be well matched but with the rare qualities of Caesar's Son yet I advise you that in preferring inviolably what you owe to him you gently manage Cornelius his spirit and do not put your self in danger by too rough usage of him of making him make use of the power he hath over you I am too sensible of it replyed Candace not to follow your counsel and whatsoever difficulty I have to dissemble my thoughts yet so long as the Man shall keep himself within the bounds of that respect which he hath hitherto observed I shall forbear distasting him as much as is possible but if he never so little transgress I will make him know what I am and I have seen death often enough before my eyes already to make me endure the face of it rather than the least offence against my honour or that which I owe to the love of my dear Caesar The two Princesses entertained one another in this manner and they had a very long discourse together besides in the same place wherein having passed from Candace's affairs to Elisa's that Princess according to the Queens Counsel was resolved to conceal neither her Birth nor her Name from Cornelius supposing upon good grounds that she could not find a better Sanctuary against the cruelty of the King of Parthia than amongst the Romans his Enemies where Tyridates her Uncle had found refuge and whose protection was the most puissant that she could look for in the World Candace believed that then she might without putting Tyridates in danger inform his Niece of the place of his retreat and the obligations she had to him which she did without any further delay and by that discourse she
nothing punctually replyed the Unknown but hath only given me some uncertain hopes which I should not have fixed upon if I had any designs which that confidence might divert me from Seek not said he as I remember seek not far from the shore of Alexandria that which thou hast lost thou shalt not find it any where else and thou maist hope that the Gods will restore it to thee in the same condition they gave it thee at first These were his very words said the Squire and I expect some success from them because of the impression which his science hath made upon my Spirit The success added his Master is in the hand of the Gods that can do all things and 't is from you O ye great Gods continued he lifting up his eyes to Heaven 't is from you only that I ought to expect the end of these miseries to which this deplorable life is condemned As he had finished these words he perceived himself to be near a little brook which arising from a neighbouring spring ran amongst the trees down to the Sea which was but a few furlongs off This sight revived some remembrance in his mind which renewed his sighs and stopping at the place to look upon the clear waters which glided along upon the little pebble stones with a pleasant murmur Alas said he 't was in such a place as this that my destiny presented my Delia to me and if the Gods would please to restore me what I have lost in the condition wherein they gave it me it must needs fall out that upon the brink of this rivulet I must find out my deplorable Delia. The amorous Philadelph for these words did sufficiently discover him to be the amorous Philadelph had hardly spoken these few words but casting his eyes along the brook whilst his horse was going over it he thought he saw at a good distance off some persons lying upon the bank and looking that way with more attention than before he perceived they were women At this sight he knew not why a shivering ran over his whole body and stopping the bridle of his horse he continued with his face towards that object unmoveable and astonished Dion which followed next to him seeing him stand still in this posture and reading in his countenance which was partly visible his bever being up all the signs of a strange amazement What ayles you Sir and by what surprise is your visage so suddenly changed Dion spake thus to him twice without receiving any answer and Philadelph was so moved and troubled that for a long time he was not in a condition to make a reply at last endeavouring to dissipate this strong emotion Behold said he pointing to the place behold those women which lye upon the bank of the rivulet and remember that it was in this condition that fortune sent me Delia. This sight and the resemblance of the place and the accident with that which was so fatal to my life have so much moved me that 't is impossible for me to recompose my self and if the Gods be but pityful it may be amongst these persons I may find my Delia. It may be so if it please the Gods replyed Dion and things more improbable often come to pass but it may be with more likelyhood that it will not fall out so and I do not advise you to ground any hope upon it that may redouble your displeasures when you find your self deceived I will hope for nothing said the Prince and I yet will neglect nothing it must be by some extraordinary adventure that Delia shall be restored to me if she be still in the world for one and though I judge that the extraordinary motions wherewith my heart is agitated proceed from the violence of my love rather than from any presage that is sent me from Heaven yet I am resolved not to part from this place without satisfying my self in this point and without seeing the faces of these persons whom fortune presents to me in the same condition wherein I first saw Delia. With these words he alighted and leaving his horse to Dion he walked along the bank of the brook with an uncertain pace and went towards the place where the women lay along upon the grass By means of the delay which this adventure had caused Agrippa had the more time and convenience to follow Philadelph without being perceived he heard part of the words which were spoken to Dion he saw him alight from his horse and guessing at something of the truth by his discourse the goodness of his nature made him interess himself in this adventure more than before and wish the man though he was unknown to him happy success in his business The richness of his Armour made him already conjecture that he was of no mean condition and every thing in Philadelph's person pleaded for his advantage The passionate Prince marched towards the place where he saw the Ladies lye with an extraordinary emotion and throbbing of his heart and he was so troubled between some beams of hope and fear of being deceived that he hardly had strength and assurance to go along He came at last with the least noise that was possible to the place where upon the green grass two Ladies were asleep at first the number displeased him remembring that Delia went from Cilicia with her Aunt and her Sister but he staid not long upon this consideration judging that in the voyages she had made since she might be separated from part of her company He looked upon the two women with a very passionate action and lifting up his eyes to Heaven in a very suppliant manner Immortal Gods said he but with his heart more than his mouth for that continuing mute for fear of making a noise left all its functions to the heart pitiful Gods if by a miraculous effect of your goodness ye permit me amongst these persons which chance present to me to find my Delia how much should I be beholding to your pity and for which should I be most obliged to you for the former life which I have received from you or this latter which you render me He passed from this thought to some motions of an uncertain and wavering joy but immediately after that was destroyed by contrary appearances and his heart freezing again with fear which had been thawed by hope Alas replyed he to himself what reason can I have to imagine that this adverse fortune by whose means I have passed so many days in so deplorable a condition should deal so favourably with me to day Have not I seen a hundred thousand women since I sought after my wandring and fugitive Delia without meeting her in all that great number and must I hope because she appeared thus once to me that every thing which presents it self so afterwards must needs be my adorable Delia Ah! vain hope how hast thou abused me to no purpose and how easie is it to judge that my
himself with the best and fleetest horses that could be had carryed away all the prizes as well for the horse-races as the Chariots leaving behind him at a distance all that ran with him and in that combat on horseback called Troy he behaved himself with so much address and vigour and did all things with such an admirable grace that he alone drew after him the general acclamations of the Spectators In fine he was by the Emperour himself declared Conquerour how partial so ever he might be for Marcellus and received the prizes which he came and laid at the feet of Antonia bending the knee and bowing to her with a submission that spoke him her slave Antonia blushing for shame and vexation though haply she was not much dissatisfied at the adventure did by the commandment of Octavia receive them and immediately after the Unknown Lover mounting one of the best of his horses rid him before us with such a grace and seemed to us to be of such a noble presence and so well to become the bow of the saddle that we could not forbear admiring him A while after he went in among the rest and taking his time and making his advantage of the disorder and confusion they were in he went out of the Lists and got away with as much speed as could be His Chariot and Equipage were gone along before for he had given order that as soon as the Chariot-races were over all should withdraw while the people were taken up with the other exercises wherein he was to make use of no more than the horse he rode on By this precaution had he taken a course that those who were not concerned in his affairs should not follow the persons that were of his attendance in order to discover him as it might have been the design of divers But as he retired himself how circumspect soever he might be he could not escape the eyes of the jealous Mithridates who fully satisfied it could be no other than the same Rival that had cast him to the ground took a resolution to follow him to the worlds end and never to leave him till he had discovered who he was or that the other had made him satisfaction for the injurie he had received from him He went out of the lists soon after him and perceiving he made all the speed he could away he followed him at a distance towards certain houses whither he saw he intended and are distant from the City about fifty or sixty stadia Archelaus perceiving that Mithridates was gone presently imagined the occasion of his departure and it being no less his concernment than the others to be acquainted with his Rival would needs follow him and took his course that way which he was told he had taken In the mean time Mithridates was gotten far enough before and having observed that his unknown Rival turned towards a little Wood on the left hand he made after him with all the speed he could and reached it in a manner as soon as the other It was with no small difficulty that he overtook him nor indeed had he done it had his Rival suspected any thing of his design but ere he perceived any such thing he was gotten so neer him that all he could do was to pull down the visour of his head-piece which he had raised up to take a little more air and he did it time enough to prevent Mithridates from knowing him Having so done he would have kept on his way but Mithridates made a shift to get before him through the trees and opposing his passage Hope not said he to him to get away this time again till I have known thee and possibly till thou hast made me satisfaction for the many injuries thou hast done me The Unknown Lover troubled at this rencounter was in suspence for some minutes what answer to make him but at last perceiving what extremity he was reduced to and thinking that besides the care he should take to disguise his voice the head-piece would contribute so much thereto as to make him undiscernable by the other Mithridates said he to him thou hast little reason to be so obstinate in pursuing a man that is not thy enemy but may become such through thy importunate persecution of him If thou art my friend replies Mithridates thou shouldst not concealthy self from me and if thou art not I little fear thy displeasure after the disgraces I am fallen into by thy means As he uttered these words he opposed his passage more than before and held up against him the point of a Javelin he had in his hand The Unknown Lover would have avoided fighting without discovering himself but perceiving it impossible to do it Thou wilt haply have occasion to remember said he to him what violence thou dost force me to and if thou receive any inconvenience thereby thou hast no body to blame but thy self With these words they charged one another at the same time and having broken their Javelins on their Bucklers upon which they received them they drew their swords and many blows were dealt on both sides But my little experience in matter of Combats permits me not to give you all the particulars and therefore shall only tell you that the Unknown Lover finding in one passe Mithridates's horse in somewhat an unsettled posture ran his own a-breast upon him and so overturned both him and his master to the ground The Unknown Lover thought himself freed by the fall of Mithridates and would accordingly have kept on his way when there coming before him Archelaus Stay cryed he to him having seen Mithridates fall thou hast done but half thy work unlesse thou conceive me lesse concerned to know thee then Mithridates This second stoppage put the Unknown Lover out of all patience though he very much esteemed the person of Archelaus and seeing divers others coming from the City he conceived he had but little time to lose and accordingly without any further consultation he fell upon Archelaus who answered him with blows as to weight not much inferior to those he dealt himself They fought for a good while on equal termes but at last the Unknown Lover perceiving the persons he had seen before coming neerer and neerer runs to Archelaus and laying hold of him he put on his horse which was one of the best in the World to force him out of the sadle and so free himself by his fall as he had done before by that of Mithridates And certainly he put so much strength to it that he did what he desired in some part and drew Archelaus out of the sadle upon the crupper whence he slipped down to the ground but Archelaus having as he fell gotten hold of the other by the head piece held him with such force that he broke the chin-pieces of it and taking it with him his enemie's head was naked and disarmed Upon which Marcellus Ptolomy Crassus and divers others being come into the
Crown Do you imagine that this injustice is of the same kind with those which the gods punish and are you not afraid to incense them your self by entertaining so much aversion and animosity against a King that adores you and is ready to dye at your feet Having said these words he turned towards Artemisa and looking on her with a little more mildness than ordinary by reason of the presence of Cleopatra whom he knew to have a horrour for his cruelties Well Artemisa said he to her you see after what manner Heaven hath prospered your designes and how it hath approved that the Daughter of Artabasus should forsake her Brother and her King to run away with the Son of Anthony My Lord replies Artemisa endeavouring to recover her self a little though my affection was I must confess very great towards Alexander yet was it not such as should have obliged me to forsake you to follow him could I have taken any other course to have saved his life which you would have taken from him and he should have lost for my sake This makes nothing for your justification replies Artaxus but you do not stand much in need of any having sound such a sanctuary in the Princess Cleopatra The power she hath over me disarms the indignation I have against you and I have no hatred for Alexander since I adore Cleopatra In a word your destiny is in her hands and I shall not only pardon you the offence you have committed against me but I shall further consent to your marriage with Alexander if Cleopatra will be but mine It is not impossible replies Cleopatra not staying for any answer from Artemisa but that we may find other means to get out of your power and if they â—aile us we will follow those resolutions which the gods and our own courage shall inspire us with In the mean time be not flattered with so fond a hope as that Caesar should tamely suffer you in his own dominions and almost in his arms to carry away a Princess that is one of his house and under his protection but on the contrary assure your self that by such a contempt of his authority you may stirr up such a fire as may set your Kingdom all into a flame Caesar I question not replies Artaxus will remember that my Father hath alwayes served him and dyed in his cause through the cruelty of your Father who was his implacable enemy I my self in my younger years have drawn my sword on his side against Anthony and if the children of his enemies are not more considerable to him than those of his Friends and Allies he will not think there is more injustice in the carrying away of Cleopatra than in that of Artemisa Artemisa hath not been carryed away replies Cleopatra she hath only fled away from your wrath after she had saved my Brothers life It was her obligation to preserve it because it was for her sake that he had exposed it to that ignominious death which you had intended he should suffer And so after she had thus acquitted her self towards a Prince who was not unworthy of her she was content to follow him and participate of his fortune in order to the safety of her life which she could not hope to have secure with you after those examples of cruelty which she had so fresh in her memory Well Madam replyed the King of Armenia whether Alexander carryed away Artemisa or Artemisa carryed away Alexander it matters not this is certain that I received the affront in the very heart of my dominions and that a Prince of the quality of Alexander had no ground in the World to go and remain incognito in the Court of a King whom he knew to be his enemy whether it were to gain the affections of his Sister or out of any other design which he might have had and that there is not any Prince in the World by whom he had not been ill treated upon such an account But though this reason and the others I have already alledged of the interests and the services of our house should amount to nothing with Caesar I am now to appeal to another power than his and since I have submitted my self to yours I stand in greater fear of your indignation than Augustus's This he seconded with some other discourse after which he desired leave of her to sit down by reason of his wounds which had weakened him very much and were not a little troublesome to him Cleopatra laughed in her sleeve at this pretended respect and yet was not a little pleased to keep him in that humour out of a fear he might break forth into disorder and accordingly not much care what violences he put in execution Nor indeed was the design of Artaxus any other it being impossible that his fierce and cruel nature should spend it self long in fruitlesse complyances But he thought it his best course to dissemble while he was yet in a condition to fear all things and out of that consideration would not make use of his power till such time as he were come into his own Kingdom In the interim he had resolved to do all that lay in his power to humour Cleopatra and omitted no humble submissions to make her forget if possible the aversion she had conceived against him He would needs have the ship hoise up saile at that very instant though his Chirurgion had made it appeare to him that the sea was prejudicial to his wounds and indeed on the other side some reason to fear he might be surprized upon that coast by those that were sent out in quest of Cleopatra He conceived and that not without probability that he had not escaped so long had it not been for the little likely-hood there was that those who had carryed away Cleopatra should stay so neer Alexandria And indeed it was out of that very consideration that those who went in their pursuit as well by sea as by land had gone the farther from the place where the fact was done Besides the vessel was so hidden by a Rock which in a manner covered it that on the land-side it could not any way be seen and to prevent all suspicion from the sea of its being that vessel wherein were the Princesses order had been taken that neither they nor any belonging to them should at any time appear upon the deck With this precaution and these favourable circumstances Artaxus not conceiving himself secure would needs have been gone thence at that instant when a wind contrary to his designs and consonant to the wishes of the Princesses rises at the same time but a wind so contrary to the course they were to take that it was thought impossible to get out of the river while it blew with the same violence it had begun nay there was some fear that if they went out of the place where they were wherever they had cast anchor it could not be so private as the
at that of Elisa and coming neer her with a respect which her admirable beauty and the words of Candace easily forced him into saluted her with such submission as the most inconsiderable of mankind might do the heiress of the throne of the Arsacides and received from her all the civility she could have done him had he been possessour of the Empire He was not at all surprized to meet with Elisa whom he knew before to be in Alexandria and with Candace but looking more earnestly in her face he thought he had seen her that very day once before and the fair Elisa taking more particular notice of him discovered in his that he was the same man whom she was talking of some few minutes before and who had that day relieved her against the violence of the King of Media She no sooner perceived it but her gratitude and acknowledgment working their effect upon her she turned towards Candace with a countenance which partly expressed the sense she had of that Obligation Madam said she to her our wishes are accomplished and if you find in this Prince a person infinitely dear to you I find in him that of my valiant defender and look on him accordingly as one whom I owe not only my liberty but also the happiness I have to be hear with you These words put the Prince into a modest blush and receiving them with abundance of submission Madam said he to her I have done no more for you then you might have received from any man whatsoever upon the same occasion but indeed it proved so favourable and so glorious a one to me that I ought to have hoped for no less in Consequence thereto then the great happiness which I enjoy this fortunate day Having thus expressed himself he thought himself obliged to observe a greater reservedness in the presence of Elisa as conceiving it not fit he should disburthen himself before her of all that lay upon his heart But Candace taking notice of it would not suffer him to entertain any such thought and after she had looked on the Princess with a smile Caesario said she to the Princess since I have had sufficient experience of your respect even so far as not to fear any incivility from you even in deserts and that the Princess hath a greater goodness and friendship for me than to deny us that liberty I must tell you that her presence obliges you not to any reservedness but what may be expected only upon account of the respect due to her and not upon the score of any circumspection otherwise And this you may be confident of in that before her I call you Caesario in Alexandria and you will haply be the more assured of it when I shall have told you that she is not only acquainted with all our adventures but also that she is not ignorant of my most secret thoughts Upon that assurance and the freedom you are pleased to afford me replyed the Prince I shall presume my fairest Queen to ask you what posture my life and fortunes are in and to conjure you to let me know whether it be possible that distance distractions and the dangers whereto you have been exposed have wrought any change in that fortunate condition to which you had out of your own goodness raised me May I hope fairest Queen contiued he setting one knee to the ground instead of sitting in a chair which Urione had brought to the bed-side where the Princesses were already sate ought I and may I hope that that precious affection whereby you have made me the most glorious person in the World ............ 'T is enough said the Queen interrupting him and forcing him to rise it is enough I doubt not but you could answer that question sufficiently to your own satisfaction were you so pleased and I am in a manner confident that you make not the least doubt of the constancy of an affection which I have inviolably preserved for you amidst traverses of fortune as great haply as those that may have happened to your self since our separation Not but I must confess that I have been in more than ordinary extremities and my life and affairs in such a posture that I stood very much in need of your assistance Ah Madam replyed the Prince I have understood no less from Eteocles whom it hath pleased the gods to preserve for my comfort he hath indeed given me an account of that dreadful danger whereto you were reduced when you fell into the hands of the Pirate Zenodorus and that admirable resolution which your vertue inspired you with rather to sacrifice your life to flames and waves then to suffer any violence It is possible indeed added the Queen that that action might proceed purely from my vertue but I must withal intreat you to conceive your self a little obliged to me in it and accordingly believe that the design I had to preserve my self absolutely yours to the last gasp extreamly fortified me in that resolution Caesario was so strangely transported with joy at these obliging expressions that he was at some losse how to signifie the resentments he conceived thereof And yet at last he made a shift to do it but with such a disorder and confusion as more truely discovered the greatnesse of his passion then the best couched discourse could have done And when the Queen had suffered him to recollect himself in that posture wherein she beheld him with abundance of pleasure But is it just said she to him I should be any longer ignorant how and by what adventure I come to see you again what good genius hath brought you to Alexandria and what fortunes you have run through since our separation It is just replyed the Prince I should give you an account of what you were pleased to entrust me with and acquaint you with the state of a Kingdom which you thought fit to leave to my management That is not it replyed the Queen which I am so desirous to presse you to and though I should be content to understand whatever you shall think worthy our knowledge yet this fair Princess can satisfie you that in the discourses we have had together she hath observed that the loss of my Kingdom was not the thing I was most troubled at Your generosity is to be admired replyed the Prince that is suitable to your admirable person and I cannot expresse the experiences I have found of it but by my silence and confusion I shall therefore acquaint you as well with what past at Meroe as what hath been done in Aethiopia since your departure thence whereof the relation cannot be long because it can amount to no more then a diary of some few daies actions and afterwards what hath happened to my self since it hath been my business to find you out Now it comes into my mind added Candace when I entertained this fair Princess with a relation of our adventures I forgot to give her an account after what
obligation in it for a person that 's too ungratefull and if my Sister hath not answered as she ought the demonstrations of your affection she must needs be her self prepossessed by some Passion that disturbs her Reason I have very much suspected it by the change I have observed both in her disposition and countenance and I should haply have been the more confident of it if I had not heretofore known her mind to be far from all manner of engagements It is certainly at this present more then ever said I much troubled to find him inclining to that opinion and as the concernment I have in her inclinations makes me the more vigilant to observe them so I can assure you there 's no man in the World so happy as to be lov'd by Tullia and that I can charge my unhappiness upon nothing so much as the general aversishe hath for all our Sex or at least for a Passion which she can raise in us but not be sensible of her self No certainly nothing can be the object of her love as there is nothing that deserves to be lov'd by her and you cannot without aggravating my affliction entertain the least suspicion of any such thing This I should have pressed further as being unwilling to leave him in that opinion knowing that Tullia would be extreamly troubled at it if there had not appear'd at the other end of the walk certain persons that were coming towards us Whereupon I being desirous of solitude and consequently loath to engage in that Company intreated Cicero to go and entertain them and leave me to the freedom of my walk Cicero to humour me did so whereupon coming to a place where there was a passage into another Walk I left that I was in before with an intention out of that also to steal into some more private place But I was hardly gotten into the other walk but I unexpectedly met with the fair Tullia who having walk'd on the other side of the Palisade and hearkened to our discourse had over-heard all we had said without missing a word of it I was not a little surprized at that meeting and Tullia reading my astonishment in my countenance Pardon me said she to me with an attractive mildness if I trouble your solitude and take it not ill that I have over-heard all the discourse you have had with my Brother I have found in it so many expressions of Goodness Wisdom Discretion and an Affection which I have not deserv'd that the service of ten years could not have gain'd so much upon me and you may thence imagine that I am no less to be bemoan'd then you since my misfortune is such as suffers me not to make any advantage of an affection which no doubt would exchange my unhappiness to a proportionable degree of felicity ......... At these words she made a stop with an action attended by a certain confusion and observing I still had my eyes fixt on the ground without making her any reply I know added she that you are acquainted with my misfortune and notwithstanding that out of interest or resentment you might have publish'd it you have not onely concealed it from all the World but have chased away the jealousies which my Brother had conceiv'd thereof Nor have you cast a slight obligation on me in the contempt of his proffers because they are contrary to my unhappy inclinations and these effects of your goodness I have such a resentment of that if you knew what struglings pass in my soul upon your account no doubt you would not charge me with an excess of severity I found somewhat in these words which to my apprehension made more to my advantage then any thing she had said to me before and attributing them to pure acknowledgement and her gratitude whereof I had already receiv'd several assurances I conceiv'd I ought to entertain them no otherwise then the rest Whereupon lifting up my eyes to fasten them on her countenance with an action wholly passionat I do not charge you with any thing said I to her and I appeal to both Gods and Men. That all I bewail is my own misfortune without the least repining thought against you I have undergone it hitherto with all the constany Heaven was pleased to afford me but now my strength is spent and I am reduc'd to such necessity as to imagine there can be no remedy for me but onely in Death I need not haply go any further then my own grief to find it but the effect might prove so slow as to tire my expectations so that I must be forc'd to court it in those wayes wherein so many great persons have have met with it I will go and spend in a Military employment the unfortunate remainders of a life that was so odious to you nor is the Universe so peaceable as not to afford War enough to dispatch one whom his miseries have long since sacrific'd to Death These words I utter'd with such an action as produc'd some effect on Tullia's mind already softened into compassion so that when she was going to make me some answer she perceiv'd coming into the Walk where we were Cicero and the company newly arriv'd who came along with him to find us out Yet not willing to leave me without some reply in those terms of despair wherein she saw me No Lentulus said she to me do not think of any such resolution the Gods have haply some compassion reserv'd for us and will work some change in our fortunes These few words were all she could say to me nor had I the time to reflect much upon them by reason of the coming up to us of Cicero and those that were with him whom we found to be Scipio and Emilia and two other Ladies of Tullia's more intimate acquaintance that came from Rome to visit them The arival of Emilia and Scipio brought me all the consolation I was at that time capable of but my condition was such as that joy could not make any impression on my mind And though I entertained both with all the kindness and caresses I was able yet did they discover what observation they made of my affliction by what they expressed themselves Cicero a lover of pleasure even to excess endeavoured above all things the diversion of the company he had in his House and for the space of two days I endeavoured compliance to avoid disgusting my Friends as also to find in Tullia's last expressions some ground to hope But my Melancholy having infected all my apprehensions and left in my soul nothing but sadness and distractions I could derive no more encouragement from them then I had done from the precedent as proceeding from a compassion whereof she had given me many fruitless marks such as had nothing common with Love Emilia would perswade me to the contrary when I gave her an account of it and endeavoured as having as she said observed somewhat more then ordinary in her Friends
men so heightned with the satisfaction of his own thoughts that he could hardly keep within the limits of moderation They took their way towards the chief City of the Cherusci and a little before night came to a Village where they would stay that night though the accommodations as to Lodgings were but very poor Arminius passed away several hours at the feet of Ismenia in the poor Lodging they found her and being not troubled at any thing but to see the inconvenience she was put to he not onely thought that night the best and most happy of all those that had preceded it but preferred it before all the days and moments of his life past The poor Prince thought he had Fortune under his feet when that implacable enemy was preparing misfortunes for him far more cruel than any he had suffered before and had flattered him only for some minutes that she might shew him her more terrible countenance afterwards In the morning betimes Arminius having sent some of his men towards Hercules's Forrest to see whether Egilochus with the party he commanded were come thither left the Village with his company and unfortunately as it happened to him marched on as one blinded by his joy and happiness and that thought himself as secure as if he had been in absolute peace in the chief City of the Cherusci Drawing out of a Valley which had deprived him the sight of the Countrey about he immediately finds the Champion covered with several squadrons of Horse and was gotten so near ere he perceived them that he could discern the Roman Eagles and saw that he was fallen into the hands of the Romans At which sight frightned for Ismenia and not out of any thought of himself he ran to her and with much trouble acquainted her with the danger he was in Ismenia was moved at it as she ought to be yet seemed nothing the less courageous and casting her self out of the Chariot got up behind Arminius to try if she could possibly escape as conceiving he would rather die than leave her Her women did the like but all proved ineffectual for that Arminius going to put forward Ismenia not able to sit was forced to slip down to the ground And during that time the Romans dispersing themselves to hinder their escape they saw it was in vain to attempt it Her women who could sit better than she were carried away all save one who was left to run the same fortune with her and Arminius set himself before her with all his men as resolved to lose his life at her feet Ismenia upon this occasion discovering a courage not inferiour to his Arminius said she to him I will in this misfortune make a greater expression than ever I have done of the affection I have for you I should fear nothing from the Romans if I were but known to be Daughter to Segestes and no doubt but they would treat me suitably to so near a relation to an Ally they respect but I am confident on the other side they would deliver me up to Segestes and that I should be absolutely lost to Arminius I will therefore run fortunes with you as being involved in those of my Husband and expose my self to the miseries of captivity rather than discover my self to be Daughter to Segestes Assure your self that before I do that I shall suffer any thing but the loss of my Honour and it shall be onely to secure it that I shall reveal who I am She had hardly concluded her discourse which was so full of generosity ere Arminius and his men were set upon by the Romans and surrounded in such manner that there was no probability of safety for any one that would not abandon Ismenia I shall not my Lord trouble you with the particulars of that engagement wherein Valour was ore-pressed with number and onely tell you that after prodigious attempts Arminius fell down dead in all apprehension with divers great wounds about him and that all his men were kill'd so that one did not escape the fury of the Romans and that deprived of sense he loâ—t the Princess and could never learn how she had been carried way This was done by Varus's Horse who according to the Treaty made with Segestes was come from among the Angrivarii to make irruptions into the Countrey of the Cherusci and was advanc'd before the infantry which was also on its march at not many hours distance behind them The Romans had not been gone an hour from the place when Egilochus with the Five hundred Horse under his command guided by those that had been sent to him comes where the Fight had been and among many of his acquaintance that he knew found the deplorable Arminius weltring in his own blood He runs to him and perceiving in him some remainders of life he disposed him into a Litter which he caused to be made and had him carried into a City not far from thence You will not my Lord think it much I should contract a relation wherein you are not to expect any thing further that is pleasant and that I tell you in few words what hath happened to us since You are then to know that Arminius having been well look'd after in that City which belong'd to the Cherusci discover'd some hopes of life and soon after was in a condition to be remov'd to Angelia which is one of the principal Cities of the Cherusci where Clearchus almoâ—t out of himself with grief met him and caused him to be so attended that he was wholly recover'd within three months from the day of the engagement and no sooner Mean time I was gotten into the Province of the Cherusci with the Army I brought back with me out of the Countrey of the Ingriones and having met with the Forces of Varus some days after the misfortune of Arminius I had fought them with so much advantage on our side that he was forc'd to retreat to the Frontiers of the Sâ—evi whither I pursu'd him and made him glad to joyn with the Suevian Troops which lay along the River Albis Having understood there what condition Arminius was in I left all to come and see him at Angelia where I found him in a way to recover but infinitely more indisposed in mind then body as being not desirous of either life or health out of any other respect then to employ it in the recovery of Ismenia The name of Ismenia was perpetually in his mouth and seem'd to be the onely burthen of his memory and had he been a person of less courage no doubt but he had died out of a pure grief that he had so unfortunately lost her To raise him out of which all I could do was by all the sentiments of Friendship to protest to him I would spend my life to the last gasp to find her out Some days after being call'd away to the Army that lay still upon the Suevian Frontiers I made good the advantages we