newly enjoyed transported him and his wishes to get out of the dangerous state of Paganism were a torment to him O how many times recollecting himself did he say Let 's moderate this pleasure my soul let 's look to our selves lest the Horse by going out of the way with his errours prolong ours O let 's go hence let 's make hast away God will direct us O dear O sweet and loving God and when deserv'd I ever these favours and how at any time was I worthy of them who alwayes and in all things and in every place have been voyd of all justice and full of all iniquity Ah dear Wife what wilt thou say when I shall inform thee of the favours God does us what wilt thou say will thy bosome contain them canst thou resist this sweetness and not receive comfort and be fortified by the rayes which out of compassion most loving and most mercifull God and God too late known I have beheld and tasted With these or the like meditations the Christian Actaeon having seen in the Woods the Dâ—ana of Christs Humanity Sister to the Sun of Divinity rode along sometimes feeling his heart torn by the barking and biting remembrance of his former offences and at other times finding himself a new man flew with his soul to the feet of Christ as the Hart to the fountains of waters with as much thirst as confidence Being come at last to the City lighting off his Horse and going up to his Wife who flying came to meet him with her extended arms he began What wilt thou say my dear Wife when thou shalt understand the news I bring When Trajana weeping through abundance of affection reply'd I have great things to tell thee O Husband come too late and too long expected Having received one another with mutual embraces and the kindness us'd by persons who loved each other according to their merit and reciprocal obligation Placidus having something in his eyes which look'd like amazement and resembled a trance rid himself of his servants officiousness who employ'd about the service of his person depriv'd him of his liberty and departing with his dear Trajana to impart unto her the wonders he had seen gave his Wife opportunity to prevent him in this manner And where hast thou been so great a while my dear Placidus What toylsome occasion returns thee to me so disorder'd and troubled What sad thoughts have sunk thy eyes At the time I expected to enjoy with thee those eternal felicities which even the last night were promis'd me by a Crucified Man who was cloathed with the Sun Why dost thou meet me so sad and so pensive Placidus at the name of Crucify'd a voyce more pleasing because little expected was all on fire and lifting up his hands to Heaven with floods of tears falling from his eyes brake out in this manner Ah good God! what every where graces every where graces Go on chearfully dear Wife for we have a bountifull God who is all hands a God whose torn bosome is replenished with graces a God all honey to comfort us and all fire to warm us Thou hast seen our God dear Wife thou hast seen our salvation I was not in trouble but an extasy of pleasure The heat that breaks out at mine eyes my breast was not able to contain Glory be to God my dear Wife that God will be with us praised be God my dear Wife that the God of all truth seeks us for himself Then as well as his tears would permit him Placidus informed his Wife of the wonders he had seen in the Wood in the relation of which how often these souls were transported with how many extasies and how often with a melting affection they now comforted now commiserated one another good Lord declare you who occasion'd it I for my part can easier desire than describe these delights I know Trajana call'd by the Holy Ghost whom we never more worthily answer than when we quickly answer hastned her Placidus Up quickly let 's away let 's readily consent to so many graces let the jealousy of losing them be our rule how to love them O expressions that deserve to be sung on the Harp of a Seraphin in the hearing of a Deity All the Curtains of night being drawn as if it meant likewise to contribute to the salvation of this fortunate Couple securing them under its Mantle from the injuries or at least the impediments might rise against their good but then sharply condemned resolution taking with them their two little Sons and two Servants whom they long had found faithfull and affectionate they went to the sacred Font to be baptized A good religious man called John was chief in Rome over the Sacramental Treasury of the growing Church He hearing and admiring the desire but much more the vocation of the new Believers and giving God the praises which a Pastor should do who saw his Flock every day encrease sought I 'le not say to confirm them for he knew by their zeal the Holy Ghost assisted them but to shew them with what love and pleasure he resented the favours God their Benefactor had so gratiously conferr'd upon them The humility with which they approached to the sacred Font together with the tears they let fall in witness of the comfort they receiv'd and the love they expressed in their gratitude to God were such as might become two Souls that had spoken face to face with a living and loving Deity To him that understands these Love-extasies the Writer is not usefull and to him that is not capable of them he is too superfluous Yet I 'le not omit to remember that God showr'd abundantly his graces on them and the treasures overflowing their souls were sufficient to enrich and beatifie the best of men The good Priest melting in devotion was toucht with a generous and spiritual emulation perhaps desiring more to be their Companion than rejoycing in the title of Father They thank'd him for his charity and he recommended himself to their devotion They besought him knowing the ill life they had lead to pray to God for them that he would be pleas'd to make them new Creatures and he intreated them to sue for his pardon since having been so antient a Servant in Gods House he could learn of Children yet Babes in the state of grace devotion and wisdome He lamented his own coldness and they much rejoyc'd they were come into Gods House where every thing was fervour In fine they here contested about charity humility and reverence His was the Victory that lost and God at the same time was the Cause of it the Spectator Judge and Recompence Eustachius and Theopista who had left in the sacred Font of Baptism the names as well as the belief of Placidus and Trajana at last took leave of the Priest They parting thence and returning homeward full of unspeakable consolation went kissing their Chiildren as if they had but newly brought them into
the sorrow of others For this onely reason I declined your presence and now beg your Pardon for being disobedient I was in so low an ebb of fortune that having nothing left me to lose but my friends I thought my love to them oblig'd me to leave them to prevent their being taken from me Kâ—sses interrupted these excuses by drowning and stifling them in tears and embraces They were forc't to be silent because they were forced to weep and could not find words to express so great a love But their joyes quickly ended for no sooner Antiochus had obtained a truce of his passion but turning to Eustachius he ask'd him for Trajana and his two young and beautifull sons who inferiour in nothing but number to the Graces were admir'd by the people of Rome who wisht the Latin Empire might perpetually abound with persons of like valour Eustachius recounted all the accidents which befell Theopista and his sons at whose most unfortunate and dreadfull remembrance if his two dear companions did not kill themselves with weeping 't was by reason of their horrour and amazement at the tragicall relation Many of the inhabitants of the village where the fame was soon spread of Eustachius his quality brake off their discourses and complements by their concourse to them who with gladness and confusion mix'd together came to see and do him homage and there was none amongst them so rude that relented not considering in what manner and how roughly the bravest souldier living had been depress'd by fortune All of them amaz'd at such strange revolutions began to bewayle his departure as foreseen and especially they who just came to see him as the two dear Companions related how Trajan resolving to chastize a certain nation for pillaging temerariously and depopulating the Confines of the Empire expected only Placidus whose valour alone was supposed to paralell the greatness of so dangerous an enterprize Acatius and Antiochus affirm'd that Trajan had often been sorry for the distance and misfortune of Placidus and particularly in this occasion so as proposing many rewards and preferments to the bringer of him back he had sent into all Countrey to enquire strictly after him The good and honest Peasants were afflicted when they knew he must depart who caused Badiso to be envy'd by the Capitol They thought when Eustachius departed serenity would depart from their clime and fertility from the soyl Ah said they when he is gone from us who still was so ready to help every one so kind and so usefull whither shall we go for Counsell assistance and a pattern The better part of night was consum'd in so many and such different narrations and conflicts of love so as they were forc'd to repose Eustachius alone indefatigably spent the residue of the night in commending himself to his God and beseeching him to guide and protect him to the place where he might spend his life and Sacrifice his death in his service He rememberd he had heard from Gods own mouth he should be restor'd to his former condition so as knowing 't was Gods Will to comport himself always in every thing to the will of his Creator he resolv'd to go thence with his friends to see in what God would employ and command him when the dawning of the day began to appear in that Heaven which surpass'd each thing in clearness but the heart of our gallant Cavalier they all rose The art the world uses in laughing and weeping in order to interest and not to affection is the cause that to describe with how many tears the departure of Eustachius was accompany'd will not shew with what sorrow he was seen to depart of all the Countrey-people who flocking to him embrac'd attended him wept and he that first return'd ended first the necessity of leaving him By his friends who were copiously provided of all things he was clad in the journey according to his quality where the trouble they had was not long for they guided by the soft and gentle gale of Gods grace arriv'd in thirty dayes at the haven so desired The fame of his coming out-stript him so as at his arrivall in Rome he found the City full of acclamations for him where the joy and honours he was receiv'd with unless we 'll do them wrong are incapable of relation He enter'd the City in triumph if ever any triumph was accompany'd with applauses of that kinde where every street was a Capitoll and every voyce a Panegerique Nor was it at all necessary to exhort him against pride for he went as compos'd and modest as became a child of Heaven This was a triumph o're fortune which conquerd and suppress'd by his vertue beheld him pass to glory on a Chariot of hearts and wills When they came to the Palace embraces tyr'd the day where the the Emperour met him embraced and honour'd him and inform'd of his adversities could not think of them but with sorrow Each ear distill'd into Pitty that listened to his disasters whose fortune would have had the name of tragedy if it had not had a gallant Cavalier for the subject When the Emperour and the Orders of the City had receiv'd him with so many and so glorious expressions of kindness the interest and reasons of the war were imparted to Eustachius by Trajan in whose Cabinet he learnt that the happiness of Princes resides altogether in the chamber of Presence beyond which the secretest rooms have onely the greatness of troubles and cares He found that Trajan dismayd with the greatness of the conspiracy the distance of the place difficulty of provisions and insufficiency and infidelity of his ministers of State prepar'd for a war which reason represented as dangerous as necessary and inevitable for the honour of his Crown Eustachius particularly inform'd of Trajans designes so câ—mmented on them that the Emperour perceiv'd Victory is the daughter of Counsell and where prudence speaks fortune t is probable will cease to be inconstant and find fixed stations Trajan without making more ado relying altogether on the Vertue and Courage of Eustachius made him publiquely the Generall and recommending to him the glory of the Latin Empire remanded him so fraught with his favours that had it not been justice to advance by all possible means the honour of his Master gratitude would have put him in minde of returning the benefits of so gracious and generous a Prince When Eustachius had muster'd the Army settled each Command and provided all sorts of ammunition he marched towards the enemy but the name of the enemy and how the war was manag'd antiquity hath not left it so clearly to us as without doing wrong to the truth of the story to descend 〈◊〉 particulars This may be enough that Eustachius conquering the difficulties of a tedious dangerous way and often contesting with the incommodities of hunger the outrages of ill weather and ambushes of the adversary discover'd cop'd fought with him and o'rcame him When he had
with what constancy Eustachius contemn'd both Death and the Gods was mad with indignation and perhaps too with grief for without extream violence we pass not to hatred from love so deeply and tacitly this potent affection of affection takes root in our hearts Supposing himself to be vilify'd and despis'd as he was contriving a revenge a new information furpriz'd him that Theopista with her sons was as ready to accompany her Husband into Prison as she did in his Belief He heard that all four unanimously and publickly detesting the Idols not without the Peoples wonder and attention stood preaching and extolling the merit of their Religion He overcome by a violent passion which transported him against them would precipitously have commanded their present execution if some persons of authority commiserating the sadness of their case and endeavouring the appeasing of his fury had not made him believe 't would be more advantageous to the Empire and Religion to conquer Eustachius than kill him They represented to Adrian Eustachius was a Person belov'd of the People and Armies and 't was necessary not onely commendable to give him some time that his contumacy might justifie the punishment or repentance make glorious his imprisonment This as the best resolution was concluded and therefore the Prisoner was inform'd he should prepare himself to make the Gods a sacrifice or be sacrific'd himself This combate continued three dayes during which time all the Christians of the City were not wanting to visit him to comfort and encourage him His friends us'd all means for his safety and the Emperour invaded him by his intimate acquaintance The last temptation was suggested by a Friend who though sent by Cesar feign'd he came of himself out of kindness and an earnest desire to preserve him insomuch as what Arts the School sels Dissembling can counterfeit or Interest devise he put in execution and making a mixture of affection of arguments offers and threats and tempering and infusing each thing in commendations the last and most powerfull enchantment to Persons of Valour labour'd mightily to corrupt him Dearest Eustachius what is become of thy renowned Virtue the scourge of our Enemies the prop of our Empire and glory of our Age Who hath perswaded thee to make thy self an Enemy to the Gods by opposing the Religion of thy Ancestors the Law of thy Prince and injuring the simplicity of the People who by thy example will protect the injuries done to the Gods which have made thee victorious against all the powers and triumphant under that space of Heaven they govern and illuminate Eustachius thou dissentest from thy self not onely from thy Prince and out faith Why leav'st thou the Religion thou so frequently hast defended with thy dangers so often augmented with victories and so many times authoriz'd with thy noble and sumptuous sacrifices even to the exhausting of thy Treasure Is this the gratitude thou professest to the Gods who so often have made thee victorious and sharing as it were their Divinity with thee have allow'd men as well to swear by thy happiness as by their own omnipotency Some Devil and Enemy to the People of Rome hath perverted thee The justice of those Gods who never abandon'd thy protection till they saw thee their Enemy make thee see the injustice of thy cause Consider dear Friend what condition thou art in from the high way of triumphs and greatness thou art faln into Prison and the danger of thy head Ah unhappy man who will assist thee Will that God peradventure whos 's own hands are nail'd Wilt thou therefore dishonour the glory of thy name ruine thy state and the greatness of thy Family and bury the hopes of thy Country which promis'd it self in thy valour and prudence a long and sure prop to its happiness Wilt thou despise the fortune which offers it self unto thee by the favour of the Prince who because he might not see thee destroy'd exhibites to make thee so great that thou in all the world shalt have none above thee he onely excepted who is second to none that is not a God All thy friends and alliance with tears and prostrate hearts beseech thee not to do it Wilt thou see so many tears shed in vain and so many friends deceiv'd for a God condemn'd and punish'd They have bought thy protection with the sweat of their labours and have spent and still passionately desire to spend their blood for the glory of thy Family and Name and wilt thou give consent to abandon them Ah they may have reason to fear it if thou tak'st delight in holding them so long in suspence and go'st about even to abandon the Gods themselves But who but who are they which remov'd not far from thee groan under the weight of so many Chains in so dark and so dreadfull a Prison Ah wretch that I am whom do I behold Are they or are they not the same Are those thy so valorous Sons and that thy Wife so chast whom thou so much lovedst Ah Placidus and canst finde in thy heart to see them torn in pieces And why grow'st thou so cruelly perverse on the sudden to thy Friends thy Wife thy Sons thy self and the Gods of thy Progenitors of thy Prince thy Country and Triumphs Eustachius inspired by God turning himself towards his Sons with a smile lest his valour might be stain'd if he fell to words when he had the command of his Sword spake to them in this manner We must now my Beloved resolve to do something and what will ye do To enjoy a short eternity will ye disgust the Friends which counsel us so well For a God though a Creator and Redeemer will ye offend a Prince that hath done you the honour to let you spill so often your blood to uphold him in his Throne For a God displeas'd with our loving Deities though Heaven be his Temple and by nature he be goodness it self and virtually omnipotent shall we leave off offering up Incense to these beautifull Statues where men admire the excellency of Art and harken to infernal Consultations If ye'll resolve on this besides the leave ye'll have of the most gratious Prince to spill again your blood for his sake he will too permit you since the loss of your souls is inevitable if ye dye in rebellion against the true God to live at least and quickly leade a fortunate life if it be a happy life to have many occasions of contesting with the dangers and miseries of war emulation envy sickness and servitude So spake he to them then turning himself to his idolatrous Counsellour he added I both excuse and pity thee Thou dost not comprehend what our souls aspire to we thirst after favours and lives which are not terrestrial Report we do not adore Gods Deflowrers of Virgins Incestuous to their Sisters and Deceivers of Men Gods that are Parricides Adulterers Rapacious Impostors and Blood-suckers born to the shame not protection of the world and deify'd
THE LOVING HUSBAND And Prudent WIFE Represented in the persons of St. Eustachius and Theopista Martyrs Written in Italian by John Baptista Manzini and englished by John Burbery The Historie is confirmed by Baronius with the testimony of Greek and Latine Authors LONDON Printed for J. Martin and J. Allestrye at the Bell in St. Paul's Churchyard 1657. To the most incomparable Pair and no less happy in affection than matchless in worth and honour the Right Honourable Henry Howard of Arundell my most noble Patron and the Ladie Anne his Wife T IS related of the River Alpheus that by subterranean passages it runs awhile unseen through the Countrey of Elis but afterwards breaking out repairs to the Sea though with no great stream The rivulet of my thanks for your favour to me all along my attendance on my Lords of happy memory your Grandfather and Father and since more abundantly express'd during my service with your Honours which long hath been conceal'd it having no proportion with the Sea of your bounty now openly runs thither though blushing all the way at the smallness of the stream But since at any rate I desire to be gratefull to your Honours I publishing with my gratitude my own imperfections whom can I more worthily entitle to this Book since the one is so loving a Husband and the other so prudent a Wife The Dedication then by right belonging to your Honours Valour and Beauty with the virtues of both Sexes meeting in you as lines in the center what juster Oblation could be made if the Offering had resemblance with your Honours high deserts But the Sun not secluding the Valleys from the influence of his rayes invites me to hope your Honours like the Sun in the luster of your Families will descend into this Valley and seclude not from the influence of your favourable aspect the humble labours of Your Honours most devoted and most faithfull humble Servant John Burbery The Loving Husband and Prudent Wife c. The first Book THE merit of Virtue is so great and so glorious with Man that if Man ow'd not Virtue to God he would owe less to God than to Virtue And what benefit would Life be if Life were nothing else but a bundle of evils A good life said the Moralist is a greater benefit than life it self The merit of Virtue a Treasure we have happily gotten out of the Exchequer of Gods grace is the thing that hath made Man admir'd many times above all earthly Creatures And what wonder is it that an Angel whose object is so blessed and whose nature so perfect should alwayes live burning in the love of that Creator he beholds and enjoyes A wonder it is and a wonder for a Deity that is seated on a Throne of Omnipotency to see that a worm of the earth oppress'd with the weight of his carnal desires wrestling with the distraction of so many flattering objects and oppos'd by Hells treacheries and power should be every where invincible and triumphing over all dangers by a heat of love mount above the sphear of all corporeal things on the wings of Charity and flying into the bosome of his Maker miraculously engraff and transform himself wholly into his Creator If the reverence due to the profound depths of heavenly wisdome commanded not my silence I should presume to say that to so rebellious an Angel as Lucifer a man so pious as he I speak of should in reason have been Guardian Perhaps his example might have kept him in his duty who hath rear'd with a handfull of Clay an Altar to his God to the shame of a noble spirit whose sacriledges lasted but a while to make him more eminent in his sin than his nature Of such men renowned for Virtue the Stories of Christian Religion relate many And because to arrive at the perfection of so holy a state Virtue is necessary and cannot be better learned than by an Example I have thought it fit to give the Reader a Pattern which we by imitation may improve to our advantage In the life of Eustachius you will reade the Idea of Perfection His Heart was Love's Forge his Bosome a Shop of Martyrdome Whatever we believe of all the Unfortunate we may pity in Eustachius alone His life made him a Martyr perhaps too a greater than his death yea nothing but onely death hath contributed to his rest among the intollerable and uncessant torments of so painfull a life Whosoever hath not read his life knows not yet how God playes at Tennis Job in the old Testament would have been Envie 's subject if Eustachius had not been born Eustachius hindred Job from being singular and Job him from being the first Whosoever gives not credit to Miracles let him forbear reading this Story in which it's a Miracle to me my heart doth not break in running it over much more in writing it He that denses Tribulation in a good man is a gift of God shall see by reading here whether it were possible a man of ill life could suffer without despair the thousandth part of the disasters of this heart without heart I call the heart of Eustachius a heart without heart supposing Christ did there the office of a heart And I cannot think it possible that had not God assisted particularly he could have opposed much more overcome the power of Hell so much at liberty and set on to ruine him who being onely flesh in the end would have shewed his weakness Of the Father of Eustachius his Nativity and Countrey we have no light at all from Antiquity were it that the Writers employ'd about the miracles of his life had no leisure to celebrate his birth or were it that God being alwayes mysterious would not let him be known to descend from the Earth whom he had predestin'd to be a great Ornament to his Heaven and our Law It 's the fate of the famous Rivers Euphrates and Tygris to derive their springs from Paradise He was born and liv'd long in the errours of the Gentiles and barbarous Infidels but true it is also that in the whole carriage of his life nothing could be ever observ'd to be barbarous but his Paganism He liv'd in Trajan's time God would not permit him or his Prince to be born in an age of impiety Trajan deserv'd to be born in a time when the justice of his Faith must be purg'd as that of his Government But Almighty God who was pleas'd to try his Church to make it victorious design'd that age for Princes the hardness of whose hearts was to serve for a resemblance with the mines of a rising Faith He was called Placidus from his Cradle perhaps with less expression of his mildness than his happiness Even his name assur'd him he should be very acceptable to God Being born in a Countrey if we may believe his valour which perswades us to think he was a Roman and in an age that reduced all Virtues to Courage he went to the Wars
not beautified with Mercury's Thefts the Adulteries of Jupiter and the Infamies of Venus And how can the Soul be held good whose Body 's not thought happy if even the Walls themselves which secure its repose be not wicked If even the bowls he drinks in afford not more lasciviousness to gaze on than wine to please his palate He was waited on not idolized by his Slaves and his Cup-bearer by his serving him on the knee feign'd not to believe he was a Jupiter Whosoever nam'd him did not swear with a preface of radiant titles he suppos'd him transform'd into a Star He receiv'd not into his House that kinde of mad men called Dancers People all whose learning 's in their feet all whose measure 's in their errours for there was no Feast but that of a good Conscience neither Orpheus Amphion or Circe had any thing to do there their harmony was the sighs with which from the remembrance of their former transgressions they pass'd to the hopes of a future felicity There was no discord they two agreeing to sing perpetually the mercies of so gratious and so bountifull a God No revellings were heard there nor tumults caus'd by Playes Nor us'd they there Dice which while with golden promises they seem to flatter men do cheat them of their lively hood and dishonour their death In his House they look'd after the manuring of the Soul not the Garden where Charity flourished Piety and Devotion and not the Anemone of Thessaly the Musk-flower of Greece and Granadiglia of Mexico Good God how is' t possible the intemperance of man should be so great as to please his sense of smelling to bring fading flowers from the famousest and remotest Eastern Provinces And who would e're believe it that the luxury of a prince why speak I of a Prince of a Citizen and often too necessitous had caus'd a frail Flower to be brought at his infinite charge o're the Ocean through Desarts and o're Mountains into a new World and onely for perfuming the Air for an unfortunate man who in a whole Hemisphear can finde no smell to please him He that will venture all his fortune in a Flower-pot of earth deserves to be ruin'd by each blast of winde Now the example of Eustachius and his Wife had corrected in that manner and reform'd all the rest of the Family that even out of reverence they forbore to do ill His Slaves were rather Scholars than Servants who lov'd their Master out of wonder not onely out of gratitude and were us'd like Children not Enemies Authority without contempt Riches without avarice Honour without ambition and Splendour without luxury remain'd within his Walls In fine his House was become a Pantheon where Modesty Temperance Charity and each other Heavenly Virtue were held in great reverence If a Christian had desir'd to behold the two Tables of stone where God with his own finger had written and engraven the Precepts of his Law he could no where finde them better than in the hearts of Eustachius and Theopista Each of them was mark'd as the Plate of Gold on the Miter of Aaron with Holiness to the Lord. They were in that degree of perfection that I cannot describe it the Touch-stone will tell it but God must touch them to tell us their worth And what will that be The Loving Husband and Prudent Wife c. The second Book WE have seen already how this valiant Champion was reform'd by the Sovereign Commander of the Christian Militia I must now relate the actions he couragiously perform'd with his Pike in his hand on the dangerousest Frontiers of the Enemy He lost in the first charge all the lives of his slaves occasion'd by a violent and contagious disease for which there was no remedy All attempts for their health were in vain and while some endeavour'd to prevent their destruction and others search'd after the cause of the malady they were by its effects destroy'd and consum'd themselves the spectacle of which was so horrid and miserable that the death of the Physician was often lamented by the languishing Patient Solitude inherited his House which his Friends afraid of death retreated from to avoyd the infection whose Violence made Physick of no use while it gave them no time to consult what to do What sorrow this loss might occasion to Eustachius and how vast a sufferer he was he can best tell that knows how great a part of the greatnes and riches of the Romanes the Slaves were They sow'd plow'd and reap'd The Yeoman of the Celler the Barber Tayler Groom of the Stable and often too the Sumpter-man were all Slaves They waited in the Chamber and Hall and were Sewers and Cup-bearers A Citizen had of them on the rental of his revenue to the number of a thousand and Seneca complained that that Age had built Houses like Cities for greatness and had Families equal to Nations in number Flesh and Blood so gall'd in its interest made Eustachius sensible that he could not without infinite grief bear so notable a loss Of what use will the Ground be without a Tiller Cattle without a Cow-herd Houses without a House-keeper and Lords without Servants In one onely day with a single and a momentary disaster as it were lyes so languishing and discomfited all the fortune of his House And whither shall he run to repair it Perhaps to Christ who no sooner was known and adored but blasted and consumed all his Goods Could he have fared worse if he had refused to adore him Is this the encouraging of his Servants This a way to comfort and confirm them Ah poor Eustachius what wilt thou do What hopes hast thou left in the progress of thy faith the first entrance into which hath lost thee all thou hadst To abandon a Jupiter who made thee glister every where like the Sun to follow a Christ who can onely give thee nakedness Thou never would'st credit this truth till thou hadst felt the smart of thy errour Thou too easily hast believed this God and what God is this that will never suffer thee to be happy but when thou art his Enemy nor makes thee unfortunate but when thou art his Friend Ah Wretch return to thy self return So Satan suggested to Eustachius in whom the piercing sense of his sudden calamity could not choose but raise a storm of affliction Fools are insensible of disasters but wise men bear them valiantly Nature will have us to resent them but Reason to manage them Virtue may restrain our resentment of unhappiness but cannot so subdue it but it naturally will rebel Valour would decay if it were not kept in action We are born to fight thus and remunerated for so doing God after the Creation would have plac'd us at first among the Angels if he had not been willing we should fight for the Victory our activity aspires to We might have enjoy'd without opposition the glory of delight but not of repose and reward Eustachius toss'd
up and down not dejected acknowledging every thing from Gods hand did comfort himself 'T is a favour he said patiently that the scourge we deserve for so many transgressions vents its fury on the shoulders of our fortune Let 's think on what remains since that which is past is irrevocable Let 's be thankfull to God for what he hath left us and thank him for what he hath taken away Was he not mercifull to us in suffering us to enjoy so much time Who knows if his depriving us of our Goods hath not been a greater favour than his giving them to us How many have lost their lives by being Masters of so many desperate fellows The name of God be praised we have still so much left us that living with much less we shall live with much more than is necessary Can we part with less than the lives of a few Slaves to have an occasion of conforming our selves to Gods will While he was thus reasoning with himself behold a panting Messenger arriv'd whose wan and sad face usher'd in his dismal news It grieves me my Lord said he to relate what will doubtless afflict you But the loss is as great as the tidings inevitatable All your Flocks of Sheep your Oxen and Horses are destroy'd by a sudden contagion and have left us as poor as confounded and amaz'd When God permits the Devil to command his Scepter is of fire He so fears his authority of destroying should be clipt that he undermines esteeming the time lost he employes in demolishing and battering To be poor on the sudden is a great thing with patience to support especially for him who is not obliged to Fortune but ows all he hath to his own virtuous â—â—bours Nothing in this World we love â—ore than the fruits of our own labours We love them because they are commodious we love them because we got them hardly and we love them because they are our Children but yet for all this their loss would be supportable if we lov'd them not as testimonies and assurances of our virtue For this last blow which ruin'd entirely all the substance not onely the greatness of Eustachius his House what may we imagine he said whose onely hope was the sale of his Cattle or their profits at least would have repair'd the loss he had suffered by the death of his Slaves He said Praised blessed and thanked be God who hath eas'd me of the weight of so painfull a care Whom should I have trusted with the government of this Flock which onely was left me after my Servaâ—ts death to disquiet and troâ—… me Dear Wife our God takes from us all impediments that we being freer and disengag'd from all affairs may attend his service and be thankfull to him Be he alwayes glorified and I beseech all the Angels together with all Creatures to thank him for me since I cannot perform it of my self God alone be my patrimony my treasure and substance by virtue of him my losses will not hurt me my gains not distract me not my miseries afflict me If my God be but with me what thing can I want But what should these poor persons do I should say Lords if the Pestilence had not kill'd too this title By selling the best furniture of their House and their Lands which for want of looking too were wholly out of order they both patiently supported and consum'd too their poor Family Their Friends quickly left them since 't is a usual fault in the world to fly away from thence whence Prosperity is departed Many blame Fortune for this and say she 's so cruel she would think she had left him too much whose poverty she hath decreed if she had not too depriv'd him of Friends But wise men do know this fault is our own and not the Stars Man is afraid to touch him whose condition is infected and cannot give us any thing but contagion or pretend but to our Goods The not being a good Friend to ones Friend makes us not count a Friend among our proper Goods else 't would be impossible we should think it a misfortune to part with any thing of our own for his sake whom we valued as one of the pretiousest Jewels we have His Followers deserted him because he wanted means to maintain them and he that cannot live of himself stands in need of another He was not cry'd up because he was not rich Acclamations and splendour go together and he that is wealthy may be prudent wise and valiant Every man did pity him but no man assisted him All knew he was innocently unfortunate but woe to him whose Innocence must onely relieve him He that could not help him desir'd it affectionately and he that could do it avoyded meeting with him for fear of being moved to pity Men fly from the miserable as from the infected with the Plague And though we all know what we do is the thing we would not have done to our selves yet interest so swayes us we had rather deserve cruelty by our avarice than purchase mercy by compassion Having spent what they had sold these Noble Persons began to be sensible of the outrages of shame which alwayes accompanies and torments us in adversity He that is unfortunate thinks every one derides him objecting his necessities as a punishment for his offences or accusing him of folly in the management of his fortune Their Noble Birth likewise reproach'd them with their present low condition They griev'd to be a disgrace unto those who had left them so well and though their new Religion had extinguish'd all ambition in them yet they thought it unhandsome to do any thing misbeseeming Nobility a gift of Heaven that swerves not from its principles of which the obligation to uphold it with honour and state is not the least In fine their last refuge was a firm resolution to retreat far from Rome where to be seen living in that manner was the greatest affliction their poverty made them suffer They thought that going where unknown they could have what was necessary would be a relinquishing the qualities at Rome which made even things of superfluity but necessary If to live in the luster of a Prince were as easy a thing as to live like an ordinary man Fortune would not have many Altars Solitude and Poverty they suppos'd would make them most happy O God with what tranquillity shall we enjoy our selves in a sacred peace exempt from the noyse and tumults of Followers who by reason of their many necessities are continually troublesome and importunate O God with what freedome may we being at liberty dive into the contemplation and service of that beloy'd Deity who seasons so sweetly to us our calamities And when in the greatness of the world and honours of the times were we sensible of the contentment of heart we have now among so many miseries which should grieve and afflict us Now I plainly see said Eustachius what terrestrial riches are
would be too sad a thing to conceive who quickly foresaw that to his great prejudice his departure with the rest was suspended His threats superfluous to one disarm'd and miserable presaged this furious mans guilt the solitude they sought after bearing witness of their enterprize that it needed no testimony Poor Eustachius reply'd I go where I hope my necessities will be mercifully supply'd Heaven will content thee which is so just it never suffer'd Charity to go unrewarded or wickedness unpunished Neither Charity nor Heaven ever rigg'd yet my Ships said the Master or paid my Men their wages Who 's there seize on his Wife Then Eustachius and Theopista fell down on their knees and endeavouring with their tears to pay him at least with compassion since they could not for the present pay him otherwise sought humbly to appease him What can this poor man pay who hath nothing of his own but the trouble of maintaining with his hands himself his Wife and Children If this poor Bundle will content you he said I give it you most willingly But what will you do with these few rags which to preserve us from the injury of the weather are left us of our fortune not to ease but deride us Dispatch reply'd the barbarous Lover Then going to Theopista who being now Captive was led as a Prisoner into the Cabbin Weep not he said softly to her weep not my dear I claim thee alone as my reward but not for the service of my Bark but my heart Eustachius whose Valour which us'd to be victorious was not yet extinguish'd resolving to dye or recover his Wife leap'd with such fury to the ground that he shew'd what an influence grief often hath on gallantry But what could he do Those Sea-Tigers threatned with their Swords their Bows and Scymitars to kill before his face in an instant his Children if he spake a word more or stirr'd a foot further At this so sad encounter Eustachius his heart left his bosome and his courage his heart But what will be the issue Ah I cannot penetrate it and much less describe it This vast disaster deprived him likewise of the little consolation which weeping affords All grief is contumacious but this hath so much power it turns Tyrant His breast clasp'd his heart in his breast being afraid to see it murther'd by sorrow His legs could not bear him from the ground for the power that gave them motion call'd to help where there was greater need could not do its office in a place so remote from the heart so as the vital parts disagreeing menac'd ruine to the fabrick of his body The blood leaving pale all the members retir'd altogether in defence of that part the life doth flow from His soul was all reduc'd into his eyes for onely by that passage it could finde a way to the languishing heart He began and made an end many times before he had begun to lament Grief that may be vented is too weak neither naturally can we lose without torment what we love to possess He stood long on the shore amaz'd immoveable and senseless Each little distance would have made him thought one of the stones which Ships are fastned to He spake not at all but when he now turned his eyes from the Bark to his Children or from his Children to the Bark Woe 's me he seem'd to say with his eyes raâ—her querulous than weeping woe 's me that Vessel is fraught with nothing but onely our diâ—aâ—ters O poor young Children and innocently unfortunate behold there your life and mine sails away Ah I said amiss God would have her go Ah she is forced away Weep little ones weep ye she is forced away she began to suffer violence even between our arms What shall we Wretches do Is that the Bark which carries her O too cruel eyes why shew ye it me Hitherto I have wept for what I have lost but now I must begin to bewail what is left me What shew ye me O cruel eyes Dear Wife whither goest thou who robs me of thee the ease onely of my tribulations and the onely tribulation I resent Whither goest thou poor Theopista whither goest thou Theopista who to no other end surviv'dst the tempest but to finde a more dangerous haven than shipwrack it self For what art thou reserv'd I never thought the time would have come that I should have desir'd and with pity to have had thee slain by thunder and shipwrack'd We have lost our Goods our Slaves our Herds and our Countrey yet none of these losses is so great as that of not losing our selves among the rocks And O thou Sea that only would'st be calm'd with my misery why didst not drown that Bark where the Husband in the bosome of his Wife and the Wife with her arms about the neck of her Husband though they had lost their lives would not now have lost the company of each other Ah my cruel fate to make me more unhappy than any ever was would have me suffer shipwrack no where else but on the shore So he seem'd to speak with his eyes full of grief looking sometimes towards the Vessel which now was out of sight and sometimes turning himself towards his Children exposed to want by misfortune and not any fault of their Mother But he spake not so couragiously before resembling Moses at the foot of Sinai the place of tribulation who the more it did thunder on the mountain remain'd the more undaunted and got the more ground Let 's go hence children he said let 's go hence my sons God is not pleased we shall have any longer the company of dear Theopista his sacred will be done he takes her away that gave her to us and I cannot e're believe that he who bestow'd her so just will let her be corrupted and deprav'd Let 's wholly and willingly submit to his good pleasure and then he 'll be sure to defend preserve and comfort her Ah heart too pitifull a heart why tak'st thou it ill Desir'st thou what God will not have I am glad of it that thou mayst not grieve because the more sensible thou shalt be of this loss the more meritorious will be thy content and this thy oblation more accepted Would'st not lose willingly thy self for the love of thy God and why not thy Wife How know'st thou God takes her not from thee to preserve her from the dangers peradventure thou might'st leade her into Ah dear Theopista where art thou whither goest thou who robs me of thee O onely Port of all my disasters who deprives me of thee O onely consolation of all my afflictions whither leadst me wicked sorrow Yes yes 't is but justice she is taken from me And how was I worthy of so good a Wife so religious a Woman that have been wicked sensual and ingratefull and having so bountifull a God have taken up my rest and confin'd which is worse my affections in the bosome of a Woman for my
subdu'd the rebell he secured the Empire to the Emperour and remustering his souldiers renown'd by the victory and enricht with the booty resolv'd to retreat But 't would not be amisse to relate the affectionate charity with which he commiserating the unfortunate moderated the anger of the Conquerours restrain'd the rapacity of the Covetous and repressed the fierceness of the lustfull telling them with arguments but more efficaciously by his own example that victories are dishonour'd by acts of injustice and we make an ill return of Heavens favours when we do commit cruelties It would peradventure be convenient and perhaps not unprofitable to tell the love and tears he devoutly exprest for the multitude of graces from God but who can describe the conceptions of an Angel Graces he receiv'd and was thankfull for them and was thankfull because he receiv'd them and receiv'd them because he was thankfull He return'd them so affectionatly that oftentimes the graces losing the name of graces became the reward of his gratitude his zeal making him so deserving that the favours he receiv'd made him capable of deserving them afresh O most happy state of a Soul in love with God! The Army marched and marched in order every pace being regular in respect of their motion and conveniency of the stations The Van-guard Battalia and Reer-guard with the Baggage and Provisions in their place Light-Horsmen scowr'd the way though the Countrey was open and no danger of ambushes and the Precursors went for Forrage as the way was commodious In every thing they provided against the perils of a War and enjoy'd in every thing the delights of a Peace They marched in order not out of suspicion but discipline for their Arms serv'd onely for the character and not the defence of the Souldier At the end of some dayes Eustachius arriving in a pleasant and fruitfull part of Egypt resolved the Army should repose for some time which by reason of its hard and toylsome march was in no good condition During the sweetness of this rest the Souldiers allur'd by the pleasantness of the Countrey went recreating themselves in that Paradise of Egypt whose bosome still enamell'd with a Spring of standing Treasures invited them with pleasure and tranquillity to lye every where on the ground It happened on a time that two of them declining the heats at noon day were resting themselves in a shade of Palm-trees where a Garden lay conceal'd which for the delights of the Inhabitants was seated in the most remote part of the House They lay solitary on the grass and talking among themselves and because the conveniency of the place and the time unfit for business gave them the opportunity they passing from one to another discourse informed each other by turns of the state and condition of their fortunes A poor Woman that was spinning behind the hedge of the neighbouring Garden and refreshing her self in the shade heard all their discourse and things which not onely caus'd amazement in her heart but drew tears from her eyes She toss'd up and down disorder'd and much troubled resolves to change the climate to make use of the tidings she received by chance But how will she be able to do it since she is so unhappy that to call her a Woman of small fortune would detract from her calamity While these mental tumults lasted her minde gave her happily the General if she made it her suit would easily condiscend to her modest desires She who had her heart and her ears replenish'd with the celebrated piety of Eustachius embrac'd the suggestion and arriving at the place where she heard he was quarter'd continues her request for access and easily obtain'd it of him who never asham'd to have his actions seen retires to live more quietly and not to sin more secretly She found him sitting in the midst of his Champions the glory of that age where I might say he recreated himself if treating of a Hero it came not near impiety not to say he was at Councel She first prostrating her eyes and then kneeling rather owning the title of a noble and modest Maid than a mature and beggarly Egyptian spake to him in this manner You see my Lord a poor unhappy Creature who hath lost all that Heaven and Nature could give her Time and Fortune have robb'd me of my Youth my Parents Countrey Means Husband and Sonnes But Heaven be praised whose decrees should be alwayes held in reverence nothing else is left me but the dreggy part of my age which being vile infirm frail impotent and painfull begins now so to trouble me I am oblig'd to think of my Grave to prevent my being miserable even after death Rome was my Countrey whither naturall affection calls me the onely favour I have left me to beg for so wretched a Carcass I beseech you Noble Sir deny not my request that I may at your charitable charge once again see that soyl which though it gave me so unfortunate a birth deserves my love so well I never shall remember it but with tears and with sighs These few and sweet words which she utter'd with humility and a modesty expressing majestie the standers by mov'd with compassion commended extreamly Eustachius who never was more happy and contented than when he had occasion to exercise his piety approaching to her who continu'd yet kneeling reply'd Poor Woman thou shalt receive comfort Thy discretion bears thee witness thy birth is as thou say'st Rest satisfied I will take such order thou shalt be provided of all things in the journey and go along with us to the place thou desirest On the sudden the good Woman when she heard him say so as if she had been struck to the heart lifting up her eyes and fixing them on the countenance of the General being dismay'd amaz'd and pale with a certain distemper which some did interpret confusion and others astonishment stood still without motion Every one admiring the strangeness of the thing fell a guessing at the cause produced so sudden a passion But the pale and wan colour in her cheeks became quickly a fine red and as soon as her minde had obtain'd some peace to so many perturbations she endeavour'd with her tears to vent her great passion Eustachius more amaz'd than the rest and urging her to tell the sudden cause of so sensible a sorrow offer'd to assist her more abundantly if she needed or desir'd it The issue was thus when the Woman had calmed her passion and was confident of the Generals magnanimity she besought him at last that dismissing the Company he would suffer her for a short space of time to speak to him alone about business concerning her Eustachius condescended and all the standers by went away leaving her shut in and alone with the General who longing irresolute and wavering by reason of many doubts guess'd penetrating with his judgment what the Beggar would say who was not without a great mysterie so grievously and suddenly afflicted
They discoursed long together so as they who were without were a great while onely curious but when the length of time began to exceed what they thought in probability was enough to dispatch such mean affairs amazement succeeded And what things deserving so tedious a Session do the tears of a despicable Woman design What counsels does so valiant and so honoured a Champion impart or receive from a Female of no worth While they murmur'd in this manner a Sergeant whom the General called at last enter'd in who quickly returning with a pale and troubled countenance obsequiously and hastily shut the door of the Chamber How amaz'd they were at that I cannot relate their wonder even making them dye of fear Ah what 's the matter All came about the nimble Messenger asking him earnestly the cause of his paleness and sollicitude Sirs he reply'd great things are sure amiss but what I could not penetrate but I found the General weeping who so often with dry eyes hath seen the doubtfull dangers of Victory and contemned and o'recome the horrours of death I am seeking certain Souldiers he commanded should be brought to him presently and hinder not his service The Souldiers he sought after were the very same Men whose discourse the same day the poor Woman had heard and observ'd behind the hedge of the Garden 'T was not long e're he came back accompanied by the two Souldiers who hearing with what trouble and impatience the General expected them were dejected and half dead The paleness in their faces was interpreted by the Waiters as the mark of an ill conscience and every one look'd strangely upon them as well because they thought they were guilty of the Generals sadness whom they lov'd as because if they were destin'd to ill fortune 't was necessary to begin to declare they had no amity with them Friendship dyes when Calamity is born Even this increas'd the horrour of the Wretches who the more they were us'd to be respected as being Lanciers and sitting at the General 's Table bewail'd with greater terrour the contempt and disesteem shew'd to them in this occasion Eustachius inform'd of their arrival gave order to the Sergeant to usher them in who commanded immediately to go out return'd to his Companions to raise new doubts among them who perplex'd panted after the knowledge of such strange and impenetrable nows Eustachius not long after cry'd aloud so as every one attentive to hear what succeeded heard resound from the Chamber though shut a lamentable confusion of weeping and sobs They irresolute awhile concluded at last they were bound to go in to see if they were able to do their Lord service But the Chamber being open'd they amaz'd and more disorder'd than before found ah wonder found that their valiant Commander prostrate between two Souldiers and a despicable Woman lay pitifully weeping like a drooping little Boy that had been correctedd for his faults Eustachius no sooner beheld them but rising from the ground and instantly looking chearfull cry'd aloud unto them Come in Brethren come in I invite you to behold the unspeakable wonders of Gods providence and mercies The joy his words occasion'd which were far more pleasing than they could imagine surpass'd each affection in the breasts of the Auditors curiosity excepted When they were enter'd in he re-spake in this manner Behold here O Friends my Wife and my Sons the chances of whose losses will eternally be famous in the Diaries of my Misfortunes He recounted here particularly to them how his Wife had long since been violently taken from him by an amorous Robber and how by the favour of Heaven she preserv'd undefil'd surviving the barbarous Fellow and extreamly necessitous came begging to the service of a Garden behind whose hedge she had the occasion of re-knowing her Sons who contracting a friendship and relating the unfortunate accidents of each others fate were known to be Brothers All ran on the sudden by turns to embrace and do homage unto their new Lords by whom they were inform'd of the manner how the one by Shepherds recover'd out of the mouth of a Wolf and the other by Peasants out of the paws of a Lion had spending their time in a mean education been at last by a Drum recall'd to their natural inclination Acclamations soon began the usual Companions of felicity each one affirming he admir'd how 't was possible they took not before for Placidus his Sons those valiant young Gentlemen who were so like their Father in the features of the face the strength of arm and magnanimity of heart Kinde receptions praises and congratulations would have never had an end if the General who most passionately desired to thank again his gratious Creatour had not taking an occasion from the time the night now coming on very fast after his thanks to every one for their kindness most courteously and dexterously dismiss'd them After their departure Eustachius left onely with his Wife and his Sons began to say to them Ah Wife ah Sons as dear to my heart as all the hope it hath and all its felicity and what sense have we of the multitude of favours so mercifull a God bestows upon us Ah dear Theopista whom so long I have sigh'd for behold me again in thy arms I embrace thee by the favour of that most loving Father who most gratiously and mercifully depriv'd me of thee to make me relish pleasure by restoring thee to me And O ye Sons so principal a part of my bowels have ye in such disatrous and difficult wayes of hostile vicissitudes kept the innocence was due from you by gratitude not onely by nature for the many obligations which more than all men living besides ye have to so bountifull a God Embrace ye me O Sons O Sons much defir'd and twice born O how many times have tears drown'd my sleep when I thought I heard you howling and roaring in the Woods But glory be to God we behold one another once again and shall meet for the future more happily for the plenty of so many favours cannot choose but so mollify and so powerfully in the end raise our hearts to correspond with God Almighty but that this correspondence enflaming and replenishing us with him must showre on our souls a Paradsie of graces of glory and happiness Here he made an end for affection brake the thread of his discourse Theopista wept his Sons likewise wept The brother the brother the husband the wife the mother the sons and the sons now their father now their mother did hug and embrace mixing congratulations with kisses and embittering their kisses with tears Every thing concluded in expressions of kindness and the mutest were most eloquent All these love-extasies they ended at the foot of a Crucifix where what discourses of gratitude what sense of devotion what affections of affection and what protestations and resignations they made I cannot describe The Angells have done it who spectators of so delicate and