and whose childe it was which I presented to him I satisfied his demands and gave him such an affright and terrour at the repetition oâ—… Zabaim's extravagancies that falling on his knees and lifting his eyes and hands towards the Sun Thou still-waking eye cryed he of that Divinity whose shadow I am and nomore irreproachable witnesse of all the actions of men call me to judgement before the throne of eternall Justice and deny me thy pure light if ever the tyranny of sense or the weakenesse of spirit force me to the like brutishnesse After he had made this holy protestation he tooke the young Almanzor and holding him in his armes Yes mercifull heaven said he I receive as from thy hands the prefeâ—… thou sendest me by this stranger and subscribing with joy to the decrees of thy will I will be this Innocents father and betwixt him and my Son divide all my love and care With these words he delivered me againe the young Prince and intimating to me how happy he thought him selfe in finding so faire an occasion to exercise his charity entreated me to follow him He commanded one of his Camels for baggage to be given to the Princes Nurse and would have her still before him We rode till Sun-set and then came to a royall house which is Abrinzia's usuall aboade when the necessities of his State and the love of his people permit him to leave the City and in retirednesse to taste the delights of a Private man I will not relate to you with what care that good King caused the young Almanzor to be bred but will onely say he respected and considered him as his owne Son and the vertuous Andromeda his wife finding in him those causes of satisfaction which she met not in the person she had brought into the world would even have given him the first place in her love if the feare of heaven had not obliged her to observe the order of Nature and not to bestow that on a stranger which was onely due to the childe of the family Almanzor's youth was as noble and faire as the Prince of Benin's was insupportable Perseus so was he called had a melancholy accompanied with a brutish fury which made him not onely incapable of submitting himselfe to his Governours or to the King his father but so awkeward and indisposed to all exercises both of minde and body that it seem'd heaven having so much exhausted its treasure at the birth of Almanzor had reserved nothing for that of Persâ—… This which I have spoken if you please shall suffice for the first foureteene yeares of Aâ—…life Come we to the fifteenth and by the apprentiship of his valâ—… judge what this Master-peeces should be In the season wherein the Sun swerves from the Equiâ—…tiall line to get up to the Tropique of Cancer there rush'd out of the Deserts of Zanâ—…ra a prodigious Serpent which having laid waste the Territory of Guangara by the death of more then a thousand men made himselfe an entry into the kingdome of Benin He came on even to the gates of the City Budis and marching as a hardy and judicious Conquerour came the soonest he could to the City of Benin as if he would have presented battle to the King himselfe He utterly left desolate all those Provinces through which he had pass'd by the justice of heaven The people assembled and armed themselves against this Monster as against a common enemy but their resistance was vaine for that puissant adversary overthrew whosoever presented himselfe before him No arrowes so great or weighty or sharpe soever could pierce him and there was no better way found by any for their security then to shut themselves up in townes After he had made a generall havock through the Kingdome he set him downe in the territory of Benin The wood and fountaine of the Sun he chose for his usuall abode and as if he had beene satisfied with his Conquests and would now stop their progresse he stirr'd not more away farre from a place the most holy most religiously kept in all the Estate of Benin From time to time he came even to the Towne Gates and kept the King in a manner besieged within his walls and wholly interdicted the peoples commerce and exercise In the meane time the devoute Abrinzias contemplating that Monster as a scourge which heaven would make use of for the chastisement of his offences thought this persecution would not cease but by a publique penitence He had therefore recourse to those remedies which were taught him by that eternall Law which the most barbarous have graven in their hearts He wept he fasted he punish'd himselfe for his people he added publique processions and solemne sacrifices to his private devotions and reclaiming the people from their Luxury and debauches went himselfe every where preaching teares repentance and amendment Whilst all the Court was in prayers and mortification a valiant and generous Knight had an intent to fight with that Monster He was called Bellerophon and had gotten so great a reputation through all Africa 〈◊〉 't was held for impossible that which he could not execute At all points arm'd he rode out of Benin mounted on an excellent horse and resolv'd to dye or to deliver his Countrey from that terrible slavery The people drawne by the hope of their safety followed that generous warrier but at sight of the Monster feare freezing their bloud made them abandon their deliverer and shut them up againe within their walls Bellerophon was left alone and his courage encreasing by the generall affright he went to search for his enemie even among the Palme trees wherewith it seem'd he would crowne himselfe The Serpent not being now so eager at his prey as he was at first would scarce lift up his head when he saw Bellerophon but by some hissings contented himselfe to make appeare how much he contemn'd his adversary Bellerophon came on for all the turbulency and furious frightments of his horse and making use of his agility in shooting answer'd the hissings of the Monster with those of his arrowes But none of his shafts could wound him He was every where invulnerable Yet Bellerophon gave not over shooting but hitting him above the eye made him reare up his red and blew crest which made on his head a kinde of a crowne and to unfold all those great circles in which he seem'd to have insconc'd himselfe He suddenly darted himselfe on Bellerophon and had infallibly inwrap'd him but for the extraordinary leape which out of feare the warrior's horse made The Knight seeing his Steed unserviceable alighted cast his horse off approach'd the enraged Serpent and by a good hap worthy his courage with an arrow which strooke out his right eye we learnt the Serpent was not invulnerable But alas that knowledge was dearely sold for Bellerophon could not avoid the coming to gripes with the Monster 'T was related to Abrinzias that the bold Knight defended himselfe to the
for her searching she caus'd a great many torches to belighted that she might not mistake but at last finde Polexander either alive or dead Being come to the place where the slaughter had beene greatest she her selfe turn'd and remov'd a great many bodies and finding not that of her Protector began an incredible lamentation In the meane while Alcippus who with a torch in his hand searched more narrowly then shee came to the place from whence Polexander was newly gone and knowing his armour cri'd out that he was certainly dead His light fell out of his hands and lifting them aloft O Heaven cry'd he jealous of extraordinary vertue hast thou permitted an infamous rout to extinguish by an obscure death the bravest life of the world With that hee turned to Tisiphone and presenting her his tasses and one of Polexanders gantlets See said he all that you shall finde remaining of that Prince whom you have delivered into the hands and to the mercy of these murderers Tisiph one going out of one furie that had some bounds to another which had none at all tooke Polexanders gantlet and presenting it to the dead as if they had beene in case to heare her Villaines cri'd she who for these many yeares have been the authors of my afflictions what have you done with Polexander after you had kill'd him Shall I not have the comfort to injoy him dead since it was deni'd me living Seeke said she turning to Amintha and Alcippus seek ye faithfull servants of that unfortunate Prince and if ye cannot finde his body at least finde me his sword What! you hearken to me but assist me not and instead of prosecuting your search content your selves with unprofitable teares and lamentations With that she cast her selfe on the ground and besmearing her hands and clothes in removing many bodies drown'd in their bloud continued till almost day-break that horrible exercise At last she found out Astramadan and her hatred all goary as he was making her know him she seem'd to be infinitely joy'd at that incounter instantly she began extreamly to raile on him and finding a sword cut off his eares and his nose and the inraged woman not to be satiated at halfes commanded two of her Moores to strip the wretched Prince and assoone as he was naked she ran the sword into his body and rending his breast and tearing out his heart Accursed heart cri'd shee how unfortunate am I that thou art no more capable of suffering How glad should I be couldest thou revive againe and become sensible that thou might'st feele the extremitie of my hatred and torments but as dead as thou art I must teare thee in pieces and taste at least the shadow of that pleasure I had enjoyed in eating thee alive To it Tisiphone glut thy selfe with this accursed heart avenge thee as much as thou can'st since thou canst not as much as thou wouldest and intermingling love hatred despaire revenge and death together give succeding times a prodigious example what a woman can doe when she is as hardy as she is unfortunate With these words the inraged woman gnaw'd off and swallowed a piece of Astramadan's heart and whether that dismall morsell choak'd her or as 't is most likely the excesse of her furie discompos'd all that order of nature which preserves life so it was that she fell starke dead at Amintha's feet and freed her age of a monster which had made Heaven accus'd of Injustice had she not been punished by an exemplary chastisement Amintha Alcippus and others of Polexander servants being delivered from that womans tyrannie thought of nothing but on what they had lost Dead Polexander was the onely object which became master of their thought They invited one another to weepe and bewaile him and to preserve his memorie for ever among them made a vow to keepe more charily then their lives the reliques that were left of him Amintha tooke the gantlet which Tisiphone let fall in dying Alcippus his helmet and distributed the other pieces of his Princes armour to his most affectionate servants which done he erected a pillar in the midst of that fatall place and fastning to it Astramadan's armour all broken as it was tooke a great shield which he found all whole on the ground and writ thereon with bloud these words following Polexander for the eternall memory of his Victory and Astramadan's Treachery in the midst of this by fire consumed Towne hath here fix'd his Enemy's Armes which he lost with his life This Trophie being erected Amintha and Alcippus returned to the port and imbarking themselves in our Heroe's vessell thought of nothing more then how to accomplish the vow they had made to eternize the lamentation for his death But he in the meane time laid along in his boate without any more strength then what might suffice him to undergoe his many wounds was row'd on by the weake armes of Diceus or rather by fortune who desirous to belie those who accus'd her of that Prince's death imploy'd all her endeavours to preserve his life His boat made mighty quicke way whilst it was carried by the violent swiftnesse of the torrent but when that impetuousnesse was lost in the bosome of the Ocean Diceus perceiv'd he had not strength enough to handle the oares and imagining straight he had lost his master in striving to save him did so vively resent it that the most of his wounds opened againe and he the second time fell for dead at his masters feet The Prince beleev'd he was so indeed and bestowing on him some teares as the last tokens of his affection Goe Diceus said he goe to thine eternall rest and if Fidelitie as the most necessary vertue is the most worthily recompenc'd take thy place among the highest thrones which Eternitie reserves for the truly blessed I shall soone follow thee and restore if I dare hope it from the mercy of Heaven the prsence of that master whom thou hast alwayes so extreamely loved After he had spoke thus he stood some time without losing his sight and yet not seeing any thing but by little and little growing weaker it seem'd to him as if a thicke cloud tooke all light from him Then indeed 't was he thought he should die and that the judgements of heaven laying before him the vanities of his youth as so many causes of his condemnation and the ill imployments in which he had exercised his life hee fell to his oraizons After which he left all knowledge and lay a long while be twixt dead and alive In which time his boat carried by the waves out of sight of the desolate Island floated almost two dayes at the will of the the winde which having no lesse care of him then it would for a nest of Halcions brought them happily to an Isle where Polexander and Diceus recovered againe that life which they had more then halfe lost Truly that succour betided them whence with reason they could not expect any
did and intreated him to be pleas'd that she might serve him at least as a slave since Fortune had depriv'd her of the meanes to serve him as a Princesse The cruell Nephizus losing all sence of humanity goe infamous Princesse said he go and run after thy Mescenarez and Tyndarache Thou hast chosen them to glut thy lascivious desires go find them out and never shew thy self to him that hates thee more then death At those words of lascivious and infamous Benzaida grew pale as if she had been ready to swoon and almost assoone the fire flying into her face and flaming forth her eyes Monster cried she more dreadfull then all those thy Affrica ever produc'd Hangman that inhumanly dashest a ponyard into my brest is this the effect of thy promises and assurances which thou gavest me by Alalita and Zamaella O dismall Names to my remembrance pernicious councellors who are the causes of my afflictions as well as of my faults Come and see that Nephizus which you represented to me so generous and so worthy of the quality of a Prince But I accuse you unjustly you were the first deceived and the forsworn man who would make use of you to throw me headlong where I am first put out your eyes before he employed you in that office Pardon me my reproaches too-dear too-credulous freinds T is thee alone Nephizus which I ought to accuse for all my misfortunes and all my offences But shew not so much scorne and aversion to me I shall not be much longer troublesome to thee T is fit only that for my justification I make thee know that I am innocent and guiltlesse of those impurities which thy unclean mouth chargeth me withall and that the execrable Mescenarez and the too-faithfull Tindarache never shared in that which I only reserv'd for thee Heare then my Innocence And should'st thou reject her testimony thy vanquisher and thy Love whom I beseech to receive my deposition will publish for the discharge of my memory the truthes I am about to tell them Know then and thou knowest it but too well that wonne by the perswasions of Alalita and Zamaella I lov'd thee and without regard to my reputation which I hazarded made thee absolute Master of the better part of my selfe But alas that joyes are but of a short continuance and felicities are but â—…ll upheld that have no other foundation but the faith of such traytors as thee No sooner had I a Lover but I found my selfe expos'd to the outrages of an Enemy and mark that in the same time when I thought my self at the Port an unexpected tempest shipwrack'd me Thy unthought-of departure or rather thy pre-mediated flight overthrew al my designes and ruin'd al my hopes I found that I was truly robd of al my former fortune and that the Tyrants of Castile triumphed over Benzaida even before they had set on the miserable Granada Thy absence after it had taken from me my hope and comfort deprived me of my Judgement and after my judgement of the Love which I had alwayes borne to my parents and subjects I wish'd the loss both of the one and the other Boabdilez himselfe good heaven shall I speake it became odious to me and holding for Enemies all the Princes and Knights that served me I discharg'd my choler on them but particularly on the ambitious and rash Mescenarez He returned from the frontiers of Granada a little after thou hadst forsaken me and would have taken the boldnesse to entertaine me as othertimes he had done But becoming almost furious in seeing him chid him for his impudence and rashnesse and told him that his impudence should have been long since corrected But when he was gone and I had permission to speak freely what said I not against the providence of our great Prophet against the starrs against love against fortune in briefe against all nature And that Traytor to the end I might say nothing against thee Yet I was quickly in spight of me compeld to make thee a partner The terrible object of thy treason presented it selfe before me and I saw thee so horrible that I could not look on thee without hatred nor to hate without reviling thee as thou hadst deserved It may augment thy rage to repeat them But how excessive soever I make them by my words they will never be equall to the miseries which thy ingratitude hath made me suffer And now Traytor cri'd I thou hast left Africa and cross'd the Sea only to abuse an Innocent and betray the facility of a maid whose love and age made her capable of beleeving all What do'st thou hope for for thy treason VVhat recompence is there reserv'd for so shamefull an action Art thou so much degenerated from thy Ancestors or is Africa that was late the retreat of loyalty and truth perverted that thou canst not there keepe the place that thy birth gave thee without making thy selfe famous by some extraordinary treason But is it not some old hatred that obligeth thee to treate me so unworthily Canst not indure that the Race of the Great Mansor should reign in some corner of the world Art thou not content that thy predecessors drove him out of Africa Art thou leagu'd with the Enemies of our Religion to exterminate the Beleevers and ravish from the Alcoran that power which is left it in Spaine Assure thy selfe that I never took part in the quarrells of our houses Assoone as I saw thee I gave thee my heart and made no distinction between the Race of Marin and that of Mansor But I invented reasons to justifie thy disloyalty which can have no other but that thou art a man and an African that is that thou art doubly disloyall Would to Heaven that the ambition and avarice of our Fathers had been confined within the limits of their Provinces and that their darings had not violated the sacred bounds with which Nature had seperated their Regions The Prince of Fez had not then ever heard speak of the Princesse of Granada and the honor of that poore Mayden should not be as it is now the sports of thy inconstancy and subject of calumnies But why stick I at these vaine considerations Go Miscreant triumph at thy pleasure over my heart and reputation Leave nothing undone to make the horrors of thy life without Example and vaunt thee in the presence of thy Africans who may be are as simple as I that 't was for the love of them thou falsifiedst thy faith to a Granadine Lady and neglected that which Spaine had in most adoration Without doubt thy vanity brought the like discourse within thee But what 's that to me if it were so Is it not enough that I too truely know that thou hast betraid me Neither the great Mahomet on whose Prophesies thou swor'st to be true to me nor the feare which the black Angells should imprint in the Soules of the perfidious nor my innocency nor my love nor in briefe
Princesse in her resolution I got her by night into my ship and brought her into the Island we now came from In the meane time Posts were sent to Zabaim to give notice of the Queenes death and the more to beguile him a supposed corps was brought to Senega with all royall pomp and Ceremony Every one bewail'd her death and the King himselfe acknowledging a part of his faults gave the Herse such honours as would have madded Zelopa to have seene them bestowed on Almanzaira alive Let us leave Zabaim in his just teares and â—â—erpassing all the revolts and warres which follow'd the Queenes supposed death return we to the young Almanzor who with my selfe fled from the fury of his father and his future step-mother After our ship had sayled all the rest of the day and the following night I thought the young Prince could not without an extraordinary mischance fall into the hands of those whom Zelopa had sent to retake him I therefore bethought me to finde out some place of safety where I might have him bred up while Zabaim's want of understanding kept him from the knowledge of his errors I was oftentimes tempted to land in Guinea but I straight called to minde Zelopa was there exceedingly belov'd by reason of the great priviledges she had obtain'd for all that Countrey and therefore to keepe him safe 't was fittest to carry him into some region whose name his cruell Enemy had not so much as ever heard of But that eternall Providence which is not lesse pitifull then cleere-sighted tooke me from my superfluous care and let me know that as Almanzor's birth was the worke of its hands so would it not that his preservation should be imputed to any other Our calme was therefore turn'd into a furious storme and after ten dayes danger we were freed from it by shipwrack Farre from the Countries warred by our fertile and delicious Senega is a Kingdome which on the East hath th' Estate of Biafar and the deserts of Borea On the West it is bounded by Guinea on the North by the wildernesse of Zanfra and on the South by the Ocean 'T was on the rocks which seemed to defend the entrance into the Country that our ship split and cast us as I may say into the armes of a King who by his excellent qualities and vertues more then mortall justly merited the title of a Deity which his people gave him if it be lawfull to communicate to man a prerogative which befits none but him that made them When I perceiv'd our vessell was ready to run on the rocks of that coast I caused Almanzor's Nurse to be bound fast on a bundle of Corke and commanded the strongest of my Mariners not to forsake her but to strive by his utmost power to bring her to shore For mine owne part I tooke the little Prince either to save him by swimming or to dye with him and with no more trouble expected the wrack which in all likelihood our ship could not escape Presently our Mariners perceiv'd we were running on the rocks which lay even with the water and cried out we were all lost They spake parrly true for our vessell being I may say miraculously thrust in betweene two rocks opened by the sides and yet stuck so fast that it could not finke nor yet be carried away by the waves Those whom the feare of death depriv'd of their judgement threw themselves into the Sea to get to land which was very neere but they were almost all broken on the rocks After I saw the strangenesse of our shipwrack I lifted mine eyes to heaven and presenting the young Almanzor to the Divinity which inhabits there beg'd for his preservation by the vertues and teares of his mother and my prayer was heard assoone as ended The winds which alwayes obey the will of him that sends them having executed the command imposed on them retired to their place of rest and gave some quiet to the Sea This while the water had gotten into all under hatches and as the waves broake on the rocks they arose up even to our feet but straight retiring they seem'd to acknowledne certaine unknown bounds which they were not permitted to passe I commanded our Mariners to make a little waâ—…t of the best plancks of the ship to carry Almanzor and his Nurse on shore 'T was very hard for them to doe what I commanded the Sea having swallowed all things necessary for that worke Yet they set to it as well as they could and in lesse then two houres had fitted somewhat capable to hold five or sixe persons They lanch'd it and two of them getting on it with oares tried the hazard and carried on shore what the Sea had left us They return'd quickly and assuring me there was no danger to be run I caus'd the Nurse to goe on and then came my selfe with the little Prince and so were happily landed Our Mariners return'd with their waft but came not so back for they fell unluckily on the point of a rock and were compelled for their safety to betake them to their swimming My care of preserving Almanzor making me forget all other I tooke him in mine armes and to discover some place of retreate went from the Sea with his Nurse and my slaves I had not gone two hundred paces when I descried a troupe of men which seem'd to come right towards me I stood not to think whether that meeting might be favourable to me but instantly giving thanks to my invisible Conductor I kept on my way and staid not till the Abyssins commnaded me to cast mine eyes to the ground That commandement had not so surpris'd me as it did had I knowne where the tempest had throwne me but being ignorant of the cause of that Ceremony I at first made some difficulty to submit to it At last the number of those which environ'd me and for the Princes sake I became obedient Wee laid us on the earth the Nurse my servants and my selfe and so staid till by another order they made us arise I cast mine eyes on him that was neerest to me and knew him for the same Abrinzias King of Benin to whom I had beene sent Embassadour a little before the Queenes marriage I fell on my knees to observe the custome of his Subjects who hold him for a god as I have told you and shewing him the young Almanzor See said I a Prince who conducted by that eternall Power which you represent on earth is come to cast himselfe into yourhands to be warranted from the cruelty of his enemies Doe him the same favour you did in times past to his father and make it appeare by a gracious intertaining that on just cause your Subjects call you the defender of oppressed Innocency After Abrinzias had heard me with all the debonarity I could expect from him he alighted from his Elephant and taking me apart entreated me to tell him who I was whence I came
Embassadors if I thank'd him not that sent you for all he hath done for this State let him be assur'd I will treat him as the King of Gheneoa's heire and not as a Slave and for the continuance of his prosperous successe in armes I will goe adde our Prayers and Sacrifices to those troopes which I have appointed shall joyne with him Every one being somewhat satisfi'd with this answer the Embassadors withdrew and the Queen presently freeing her self from all her attendants except Amintha shut her selfe into her closet with that Lady She was neither so indiscreet nor so much an enemie to her selfe to wish the feign'd Araxes ill for his coming so fortunately to deliver her from the furie of strangers but the threatnings of the prediction fill'd her with horror and when she came to think that she was intended for the reward of the Slave 's brave actions her great heart advis'd her to nothing but tragicall resolutions Though she extreamly lov'd her people yet could she not consent that they should grow happy at the cost of all her peace and contentment I refuse not said she to purchase the ruine of their enemies with the price of my bloud but from a Queene as I was born to become the companion of a Slave 't is a condition that no subjects how irrationall soever should exact from their Soveraigne Amintha seeing her in this perplexitie and being not much more merrier then she rashly blam'd Fortune for that which she should heartily have thank'd her Ah! said she giddy-headed fancie to whose will heaven seemes to have remitted the guidance of my fortunes why takest thou pleasure in blending the good with ill to beset roses with thornes to ravish from us what we affect and to work our safetie by the mediation of our enemies Was not Polexander more worthy to serve Alcidiana and to preserve her countrey then a Slave bred in the sandy deserts of Africa Who ingaged thee to murther the one in an Island almost unknowne and to plucke the other out of his miserable lonelinesse to triumph at once both over the pride of Spaine and Alcidiana's libertie The Princesse here imposing her silence We complain said she too much on Fortune since it is in our owne power to deliver us from her tyrannie Let 's make use of our libertie whilst we have it and not attend till it be taken away by a Slave or a Spaniard Let 's die Madam repli'd Amintha but let 's not die till we know certainly 't will not be permitted us to live any longer What knowes your Majestie but that this Slave may be indow'd with more wisdome then so many others whom Fortune hath rais'd out of the mire and carried even to the skies 'T is possible he will neither lose his judgement nor the remembrance of what he hath been and unwilling to soil the fairnesse of his life with the impudent desire of enjoying you content himselfe with the title of your peoples Deliverer Alcidiana being a little revived at this We shall said she shortly see Amintha what heaven hath resolv'd in the meane while if it be possible let 's take a little rest and not altogether despaire of our fortune Herewith she betooke her to her bed and Amintha withdrawing left her a prey to all her troublesome thoughts She vex'd her selfe as she was wont as long as her eyes were open the unfortunate Image of Polexander which appear'd so often to her troubled imagination presented it selfe at her bed's feet shew'd her his wounds made knowne his love and recounted all the accidents it had surpass'd to make his fidelitie triumph over time fortune and her insensibilitie With these thoughts she fell asleep but she had scarce begunne her first slumber when the same phantasme shewing it selfe under all shapes that a dreame could present her sometimes appear'd wounded sometimes whole now miserable then happy now a Slave then a King and Alcidiana thought her selfe a hundred times a prisoner and as often delivered as many times Araxes wife and as many Polexander's The night thus passing away she awoke and awaking recommenc'd her ordinary exercises to complaine on Fortune to lament Polexander's death and to bewaile the miseries of her people Amintha hearing she was awake came into her chamber and plac'd her selfe at the beds-head to speake more privately The Princesse who was yet affrighted with her dreames turn'd towards her her eyes yet swolne with watching and teares and looking as pale as if she had been ready to swound Amintha said she I have spent a night which I can neither call good nor bad poor Polexander's ghost hath continually haunted me but I cannot represent to thee the horror and contentment which accompanied the apparition I saw Polexander cover'd with wounds loaden with chaines wandering among fearfull solitudes I heard him calll me to his aide and having nothing more in his mouth then the name of Alcidiana intimated that onely on my will depended either the continuance or end of his miseries In that extremitie my love made me forget what I was I ran to that miserable man's aide and thought I could assuredly have redeem'd him from his disasters when with a great clap of thunder I saw the Slave Araxes fall at my feet amongst a great deale of bloud and a number of dead careases saine would I have fled but I could not possibly The Slave in the meane while lay at my feet and having told me part of what I have seene in our dismall prediction made use of all that eloquence hath both of cunning and beautie to make me confident of his respect and loyaltie He swore that he had not taken the boldnesse to serve me but that it was a necessitie impos'd on him by the decrees of heaven and those of my beautie You beleeve Amintha this discourse did not greatly please me I look'd on the Slave with mine eyes full of disdaine and straight turning away my head Goe Wretch said I and know that Alcidiana is not capable of change I wish it so reply'd the Slave No sooner had he spoken the word but Polexander appear'd to me as brave and comely as the first time I saw him and forcing his enemie to vanish tooke me by the hand and as 't were in spight of me lead me to the great Temple in this city Is not this dreame altogether very pleasing and very terrible and if the one way it displeaseth doth it not on the other promise a great deale of contentment Yes truly repli'd Amintha and I hope that at last the Chaos and intricacy of your fortunes disclosing themselves and Heaven laying open what it hath conceal'd of that which is come those things which we feare most will have a happy successe It may questioulesse be fortunate repli'd the Queen but not as you beleeve Death only shall produce that felicitie and by its mediation I shall gaine what I could not obtain by any other meanes If you search into and meditate