generally extoll'd by all the World though himself be design'd scarce ever to praise the Works of any Next observe that black and swarthy man he shall be named Theophile his destiny shall not be happy he shall come into the World with a great genius for Verse his fancy shall be quick and confident and if his judgement could retain his impetuosity and correct the imperfections of his versifying he would be Author of admirable compositions but this he shall not be able to do and all the good inventions of his mind shall be like Gold in the Mine which is seen always mingled with earth and dust After him behold Montfaron and De Lingendes two Poets who shall deserve well the first shall have a handsome faculty in his conceits and expressions and the second an amorous and passionate strain in his Verses which shall please all those that have tender hearts But now prepare thy self to see an Illustrious Protector of Poetry who shall be one of the greatest men of the World Dost thou see him that holds the Ocean fetter'd whom victory waits upon and glory accompanies 't is the famous Armand who shall be renown'd in all histories his birth shall be very illustrious the grandeur of his mind shall surpass the extent of all imagination his heart shall be incomparably greater than his fortune and yet his fortune shall be so high that his resolutions shall make the destiny of all Europe He shall be faithful to his Master dreadful to the enemies of his Countrey Victor over all those he shall encounter with and the grand Protector of Virtue and the Muses I shall say nothing of his victories nor of all his virtues for it would require too much time but thou shalt only know that that Heroe of the latter ages in the midst of his great affairs and in the heat of War which shall involve almost all the Universe shall afford us a Sanctuary under him and my Companions and I shall find a Mecoenas in him and almost the age of Augustus in the Court of France For that he will not take much time for the Kings service to employ in composing many Verses he will at least take care for the protection of those that shall and by that means cause his pleasures to be placed in the rank of his virtues For he shall give so favourable reception to all persons of worth that he shall revive all Sciences and excellent Arts. Then shall Musick Architecture Poetry and especially Comedies resume new lustre and even all handsome compositions made after his death shall be look'd upon as caus'd by his influence Yet after him we shall have Protectors in France and amongst others there shall be a person in a principal office of State who shall sometimes hear us favourably by the side of his Fountains He shall have a very great capacity for all grand affairs he shall dispatch the most difficult matters without enforcement and perform most noble actions without vanity he shall have a lively and piercing mind and unparallell'd modesty gravity goodness justice and probity he shall never be false to his word or his friends whereby he shall be particularly reverenc'd by all persons that are endu'd with Virtue and my companions and I will inspire all the Poets of his time who shall not be few with the desire of singing his glory He that should go about to reckon up all the famous Works that shall be made from the time the great Armand shall have favour'd us to the end of that age shall find the number almost infinite for never shall there be seen so many great and sublime Heroick Poems handsome Comedies charming Eclogues ingenious Stanzas elegant Sonnets agreeable Epigrams pleasant Madrigals and amorous Elegies But to do thee a considerable favour behold that Woman who appears to thee she hath as thou seest the resemblance of Pallas and there is something so sweet languishing and passionate in her beauty that it perfectly represents that charming air which Painters give to Venus This Illustrious person shall be of so noble a descent that she shall scarce see any but Royal Families above her own But to speak only concerning her self know that she shall come into the World with a more admirable mind than beauty though as thou seest she shall be Mistress of a thousand charms She shall also have a generous goodness that shall render her worthy of high commendations but to omit so many other surprising qualities as Heaven shall conser upon her know she shall compose Elegies so handsome so full of passion and so exactly accomplisht in all that is requir'd to the perfection of such compositions that she shall surpass all those that preceded her and all that shall attempt to follow her In the same times shall be sung a thousand exquisite Sonnets in France which shall pleasantly comprise all the Morality of Love and it shall be principally in this age that a particular way of gallant and pleasant kind of Poetry shall be in use wherein Love Praises and Raillery shall be mingled together but that raillery shall be in the most delicate and ingenious manner for there is a difference between causing divertisement and causing laughter Nevertheless there shall be several Poets who shall confound the gallant and pleasant sort of Poetry with the Burlesque or Mocking which the French shall receive from the Italians although there is much difference in the way of composition of either There shall likewise be several kinds of Burlesque Verses the pleasantness of some of which shall consist in the inventions and conceits and not in the style Others shall not be truly Burlesque saving in the expressions and there shall be one sort so vulgar mean extravagant and gross and which shall make such unhandsome representations that my companions and I shall almost eternally disown the Poets that shall be capable of it Withal there shall be a numerous Sect who shall judge it fit to speak no otherwise than the people do and to be pleasant with no other than vulgar conceits Not but that 't is possible to make Works of this kind with very much art and I assure thee some shall deserve to be commended and desir'd But to speak reasonably as there are few great Architects that attempt to build Palaces with Clay so also few great Poets can design to make handsome compositions in a popular style There shall also be other Burlesque Poets who shall believe themselves sufficiently pleasant provided they asperse the reputation or the Works of others and who trusting to the malice of their Readers shall not be so sollicitous as to seek to detract with Art so that without affecting any particular style they shall sometimes rise high and sometimes fall low according as the necessity of their Rhime or the wildness of their Fancy leads them But as for gallant and pleasant Poetry it shall have more affinity with that of the Greeks than of the Latine
of all hearts and be ignorant of not one of all the commendable Sciences of which occasion may be sometimes offer'd to speak by the way But above all things he must know how to take away plainness and driness from Morality and set it off in a dress so natural and so agreeable that it may divert all those to whom it gives instruction and as Ladies break not their Looking-glasses which show them the defects which they amend when they know so they may not hate a Work wherein they oftentimes see things which none durst speak to them of and which they would never speak of to themselves Whence it is easie to judge that it is much more difficult to make a Work of this nature than to write a History You discourse admirably well answer'd Anacreon I am of your opinion added Amilcar but that which seems strange to me is that if it were possible to find one that had compos'd a Fable of this nature yet there would also be found a great number of people who would speak of it but as of a meer trifle and an unprofitable amusement and I know divers antient Senators here and also several Roman Matrons who would be so affrighted with a Love-story that they would absolutely forbid their Children from casting their eye upon any such That conceit answer'd Herminius seems very unjust for Love is not learnt in Books nature teaches it all men and in all places through which I have travell'd I have found love every where But I have found it more gross brutish and criminal amongst people of no politeness and such as are wholly ignorant of handsome gallantry than amongst persons of worth and civil education And besides if it were unfit to read Books wherein Love is treated of we must forbear reading of Histories in which we find examples of all crimes and wherein oftentimes the Criminals are happy and cause desire in some to imitate them One day History will record the abominable action of Sextus the miserable death of Servius Tullus the unjust Loves of Tarquin and Tullia and a thousand other things of dangerous example which need not be in a Fable according to the way I understand for therein modesty may always be joyn'd with love and no criminal loves be ever related which prove not in the end unhappy For my part said Clelia I think it more important than is believ'd to shew that there may be innocent loves and delightful together for there are but too many who think this can never be No doubt Madam you have reason answer'd Herminius wherefore those good Senators and severe Matrons are too blame for hindring their Children from reading a Work wherein they might find wherewith to understand the practice of all Virtues and by the advantages of which they might spare the pains of travelling to become persons of worth and accomplisht since there may be made so handsome a Map of the World that it might be seen in Epitome without going forth of their Closet And as for Ladies I conceive likewise that the reading of such a Work as I am speaking of would rather hinder them from admitting of Gallants than induce them to entertain them for if they would compare the love pretended to them with that they found describ'd in a Book of this Nature they would apprehend so much difference between them that they would never suffer themselves to be mov'd with it I add moreover confidently that such a Book might not only teach all Virtues blame all Vices and reprove all the little defects the World is full of but it might also teach to reverence the gods by the example given in the persons of Heroes propos'd for a pattern and that of whatever Nation or Religion the Reader be of he might be profited by it For when I behold a Roman adore the gods of his Countrey I am not backward to improve by the example though I am an African and thereby to remember I ought to worship those of my own Countrey Therefore I do not weigh the morosity of some unreasonable people who blame a Work of this nature but at the venture of undergoing their injustice I wish I were the Author of one For I being contented with my own intention should comfort my self against the severity of a few persons with the general applauss of the World and the peculiar knowledge I had of the profitableness of this kind of Work in which may be had experience without the assistance of old age precepts without severity innocent Satyrs judgement which costs nothing and the means to learn that art of the World without which it is unpossible ever to be acceptable If you make one said Plotina I promise you to read it with pleasure For my part added Clelia I promise my admiration to Herminius I promise him more than you added Valeria for I promise him to reform many defects which I have For what concerns me said Anacreon I engage my self to sing his glory And for my part answer'd Amilcar I promise him to read it with delight to esteem it highly to commend it in all places and to do nothing which he shall say for I never do any thing but what I say to my self And besides he has such an inclination to constant love that I should never conform to it After this all the company uniting again the Musick began and then the Collation was serv'd which was as magnificent as the harmony was melodious after which the conversation was extreamly agreeable But it being sufficiently late the company separated themselves with the sorrow of knowing they should lose Telanus the next morning because the Figure which the Veientines were to deliver was to arrive at Rome the day following Clelia indeed was exempted from this discontent though she very highly esteem'd Telanus because thinking of nothing but what might have some correspondence with the passion she had in her Soul she only mus'd upon the death of Hesiode imagining what grief she should resent if during the War which was beginning between Porsenna and Rome her dear Aronces should happen to perish in it The end of the Second Book of the Fourth Part. CLELIA A New Romance The Fourth PART The Third BOOK THE people of Rome understanding the figure made at Veii by Tarquin's command was arriv'd testified an extream joy thereupon Nothing so easily communicating it self as superstition in the minds of the Multitude The Consul Horatius in the absence of Publicola caus'd the figure to be plac'd in the Temple of Jupiter and gave permission to Telanus to return So that having no pretext to continue longer at Rome he was constrain'd to depart from thence and take leave of those illustrious persons with whom he had pass'd some dayes so delightfully 'T is true he lest his heart with the aimiable Plotina and return'd with his mind so fill'd with the excellency of his Lady that as couragious as he was he heartily wisht the war would
he was ready to acknowledge himself the Loveless Gallant if conditionally he should confess himself to be the Lover without Gallantry The dreadful Milo whose force nothing could resist presuming on the advnatage which Nature had bestowed on him returned Brutus a very sharp answer who as confident of his courage as the other of his strength answered this famous wrestler with such a noble boldness that the other conceiving himself affronted blushed with madness and were it any glory for Milo to overcome thee said he to him I should soon teach thee that some presumptions are unfortunate by punishing thee for that thou art now guilty of by provoking one who can when he pleases crush thee to pieces I know very well replied as roundly Brutus that Milo hath been accustomed from his infancy to play with a young Bull and that he carried one on his back at the Olympick Games but I have never heard continued he with a smile full of contempt that he knew as well how to fight with young Lions Saying thus Brutus layes hands on two swords which a Slave carried along who accidently passed by the place where Milo and he were walking But he had no sooner taken them from the Slave but casting one of them to Milo Take that sword said he to him and if thou wouldst preserve thy glory thou hast acquired despise not an enemy who thinks he hath as great a heart as thy self though he acknowledges thee to be the stronger Milo entertained these words with a fierce look while he took up the sword which this illustrious Roman had cast him and retreating two or three paces and viewing with a threatning action Young Confidence said he to him force me not to destroy thee by casting thy self upon my arms for I care not to overcome where there is no glory But Milo had no sooner uttered these words but he was convinced there was work for his strength to overcome theenemy he so much slighted For Brutus making a pass at him with an incredible nimbleness had run him through the body had he not as readily warded the thrust with a back-blow which made both their swords strike fire which argued the strength of the arm which gave it In the mean time Milo knowing that his advantage was to close with him forgot not himself He was greater than the ordinary size of men his age double that of Brutus he had all his lifetime practised wrestling and all other exercises of the body which requireth either sleight or strength he was accounted the best wrestler in the world and he was so excessively strong that it being beyond vulgar belief that nature alone could make him such people said he derived it from a certain Stone whose vertue was to bestow more than natural strength upon those that carried it But though Milo had done things which might be justly attributed to a Gyant Brutus found him more work than he expected for he fought with so much judgement that it was impossible Milo should close with him though he made it his onely business to get him down For Milo had no sooner thought of what he was to do but Brutus shifting place caused Milo to change his purpose such a sleight had Brutus in making his passes and presently recovering himself out of the reach of that merciless enemy who endeavouring onely to fasten on him did onely ward his blowes knowing that if he could but once get him under him the victory were certain Nor indeed had Brutus any great hopes to escape this bout for having cut Milo over the left arm he was so exasperated to see his adversaryes sword died with his blood that he furiously ran upon Brutus whom he got by the shoulder but hapning to lay hold on him with his left hand the wound in his arm pained him so that he was forced to let go his hold so that Brutus presently getting off played upon him more furiously then before The fierce Milo seeing himself in this condition would cast himself a second time upon Brutus but he having by his activity avoyded the blow Milo was so inraged that he would offer at him by a black-blow over the head which certainly had it been effectual had laid him along But Milo having missed his blow it happened the same strength should have gained him the victory contributed to his being overcome for he being desirous to direct his second blow on Brutus his sword missing his adversary met with a tree into which it sunk so deep that striving to draw it out he could not without breaking it But what was admirable in Brutus was that seeing his adversaries sword so engaged he stood still and took no advantage of it it being in his power in this unfortunate Interval to have killed Milo But in this posture were they surprized by the Slave from whom Brutus had taken the swords who being gone for people to part them returned sufficiently accompanyed to put an end to the Duel In the mean time Milo was so horribly enraged at the disgrace he received that he knew not in a manner what he did insomuch that in his madness taking hold of the Tree wherein was the piece of his sword he shook it so violently that he took it up by the roots and thought to have brushed those with it who were coming to them This expression of a prodigious strength augmented Brutus's glory for there could be nothing so unexpected as to see one of his age and strength over-master the terrible Milo who had not met in all Greece with him that durst oppose him But if the prudent Damo had not used all the interest she had in Milo to perswade him to stifle the shame of being worsted he would have broke forth into some violent course against Brutus But she so well knew how to temper the bitterness of his humour that she forced him to embrace him whom he would with all his heart have smothered were not the fierceness of his disposition restrained by the respect he bore her Thus my Lord have you had an account of Brutus's infancy who after this furious combat was â—n greater esteem among the Ladies than ever For though Worth be not the vertue of Women yet is it certain that they love it and that for its sake they prejudice other good Qualities by preferring those who it may be are onely Hectors before others who instead of that one have a many other rich Vertues Hereupon Brutus seeing himself commended and courted more than ordinary was more inclined â—o fall in love with a very handsome Lady with whom the particular manner he came to be acquainted is worth the relating to you Besides that though it be not she that gave such a violent assault to Brutus's love yet it is at least her acquaintance that hath been the cause of his coming to Rome and that he lived here after the manner you have seen him You are then to know that at Crotona there was
to Valeria's It happened also that Lucrecia Valeria and my self being very merry together we staid till it was very late besides that Valerius whom I had left with Brutus had enjoyned me to stay his return home that I might know what had been resolved on at the Club whereat for some reasons it was thought fit I should be In the mean time this Slave of Lucretius Lucrecia being gon from Valerius's acquainted his Master where she had been and assured him that none came thither besides but my self Lucretius was hereupon perswaded that I was a Servant to his Daughter and conspired against Tarquin This apprehension had some appearance of truth for he knew I had often seen Lucrecia at Racilia's while she was in the Countrey and there were not many then knew I was in love with Valeria and as Brutus had often made use of my name in divers gallantries and addresses to Lucrecia as I have already told you so had it raised a small report that I had some affection for her insomuch that sometimes Collatine himself knew not what to think Lucretius therefore having received some slight intimations of what I tell you absolutely concluded I was the Conspirator and the Lover for my Father dying in banishment he thought it was likely I might be as guilty of hatred to Tarquin as love to Lucrecia So that having thus reconciled the business he caused this Beauty to be called to him and carrying her into his Closet he began to treat her most reproachfully and that with so much transportation and fury that Lucrecia who is sweetness it self was much amazed at it but what encreased her amazement was to see in her Fathers hands the Table-book which she thought safe enough elsewhere Not knowing therefore how to excuse much less clear her self she resolved to be patient and withal summoning the greatness of her spirit and courage she bore all that Lucretius said to her and heard him with the greatest attention might be so to discover whether he knew who had written to her But she soon perceived he knew not for Lucretius having tired her with the bitterest reproaches told her there was yet one way left whereby she might excuse her weakness which was to acquaint him with all she knew For said he to her since your love hath such an influence on Herminius as to oblige to communicate to you the designs he hath against Tarquin you must give me the particulars and by giving me occasion to do the King a signal service engage me to forget your miscarriage Lucrecia hearing her Father speak in this manner was surprized afresh for she gathered from his discourse that he knew not the truth and was not acquainted with Brutus's writing since he believed me to be in love with his Daughter She at first was a little glad to see that her servant's life was out of danger but was at the same time troubled that I was unjustly suspected She there fore did all that lay in her power to perswade Lucretius that I had not writ the Letter and to convince him that my love to her was as to a Friend not a Mistress But there being a many circumstances which made Lucretius's opinion seem the more likely to be true he was the less satisfied with his Daughter For in fine said he to her if you say true in that why do you not tell me who writ what I find in this Table-book For to think continued he to deny all and confess nothing is absolute madness All I can tell you Sir replyed Lucrecia is that my misfortune is greater then my guilt and if I have entertained his affection whose Letter you have in your honds it was by the commands of the most vertuous Mother in the world I know well that yours replyed he hastily affected Tarquin's enemies but though that be true yet it justifies not you and if you discover not to me all you know of the Conspiracy I shall engage you in such a manner into the interests of those whom you wish ruined that you will be forced to change your opinion I may well change my fortune replyed she but for my judgement it is impossible therefore Sir press me no further all the favour I beg of you is to believe that Herminius is no servant of mine and that he writ not the Letter you now have in your hands as I shall make appear to you by shewing you his writing which is quite different from that But to deprive you at once of all occasions of persecuting me to no purpose I declare that I will never tell you who writ that Letter and and though I knew all the circumstances of any Conspiracy I should not discover it Nevertheless know that my heart is still innocent and that I am not engaged in any thing that is criminal Lucrecius being hereupon enraged against this admirable Virgin treated her with the roughest language he could thinking thereby to terrifie her into some confession But seeing her not to be shak'd out of her constancy he resolved to force her to marry Collatine for he had long since observed her backwardness as to that business Since you will not said he to her discover what I so much desire to know I must needs engage for some concernment of your own to hinder this secret Conspirator from acting any thing against that Family into which you shall be disposed I therefore command you to prepare your self to marry Collatine within three dayes he was importunate with me this morning about it and I will it should be absolutely effected within the time I allot you and that in the mean while you see no body and least of all Valeria for since you have made her the Confident of your criminal loves she is not fit to be acquainted with your marriage Lucrecia hearing this resolution of her Father's cast her self on her knees beseeching him with tears not to force her to marry Collatine You may choose said he to her and to avoid it you have no more to do than to name this secret servant of yours and discover this Conspiracy for if you will be so obstinate as to do neither I will immediately carry this Letter to Tarquin that he may take some course to find out whose writing it is Nor shall I so much as blot out your name and thereby manifest your weakness choosing rather to see you covered with shame than expose my house to the indignation of an incensed Prince who haply will come to know this enterprize by some other hand and thence infer that my Daughter having a Servant among the Conspirators I might be ingaged in the Conspiracy There is therefore no mean you must either discover your Servant or marry Collatine or be content that I carry this Table-book to Tarquin You may easily judge my Lord what an extremity Lucrecia was in for she was confident Tarquin knew Brutus's writing and as confident that if that Prince came to discover
happiness which succeeds a misery He gave her also a Letter from Aronces wherewith she was extremely satisfied as containing the greatest tenderness and passion nay so much was she pleased that having perused it she gave it Plotina who reading it aloud found therein these words Aronces to the Incomparable Clelia THe bare hope of seeing you once at Liberty causes so great yet so pleasant a disturbance in my soul that fearing to dye for joy when I see you again I conceive my self obliged to assure you that I am still the most amorous of Men and the most faithful Lover upon Earth I know I should be somewhat ashamed that I can survive my grief and withal fear I may die for joy but all considered if you well examine the apprehensions of my soul you will find that a Lover who hath been accustomed to misery may rationally doubt his ability to bear the most sensible of all pleasures However it happen I shall think my self obliged to my Destiny and esteem it such as may move envie if I but die at your feet after I have once more said I love you Plotina having read this Letter told Clelia that there was something more to be done that she was obliged to return some answer thereto and let her see it Accordingly this excellent person who had an extraordinary command of her Pen was pleased to do what Plotina and Amilcar desired and answered it in these words Clelia to the Generous Aronces SInce you have survived your grief you shall not need fear dying for joy this being more properly the Messenger of Life than Death But that I may be absolutely happy in my Liberty remember you have promised never to break those chains which I have put you in for according to those passionate resentments I have for you I believe I should chuse rather never to quit my Prison than that you should get out of the Fetters you are in Excuse me then if while you make Vows for my Liberty mine are that you may be my perpetual Captive Farewel I crave your pardon if writing to you I have offered at any Wit for where there is either Love or Misery it suffices if there be but Passion Clelia having done Plotina and Amilcar who were discoursing at the Window while she was writing drew near her and read what she had written Whereupon Amilcar assuming the discourse Ah Madam said he to her how extremely am I pleased at your demanding pardon of Aronces for being too witty in your Letter There should not certainly be too much wit in Missive and Love Letters which is the reason that it is so hard to find any Letters or Addresses of this Nature composed as they should for there must be neither artifice nor negligence it must not express too much Wit yet it must speak a certain Gallantry and Passion In fine it is so hard to write well in Love that there cannot be any thing more But for my part says Plotina I cannot conceive there should be more difficulty to write of one thing than of another for I think that in point of Letters all one hath to do is simply to express ones thoughts For where there is a conjunction of Fancy and Judgement one for the most part hath reflexion on every thing which he ought to have and consequently writes what is fit to write of it For instance when I am to write of a business of consequence I shall not so express it as if I were only to acquit my self of a simple Complement If I am to write something of News I shall not trouble my self about Complements If I write a Letter of Friendship I must not labour for any high Stile If a Love-Letter I have no more to do than to consult my own heart I cannot therefore well apprehend why you conceive it so great a difficulty to write Letters of this nature To dealy truly says Clelia I think it not so easie to write any kind of Letters and that there are but very few persons absolute masters in it I am of your opinion replied Amilcar but of all Letters those of Love are the hardest to write as being such whereof there are very few that are able to judge Yet Plotina speaks replied Clelia as if she thought all sorts very easie whereas I think as I have already told you of all things in the world it is that requires most judgement But to shew you I am somewhat versed in it replied Plotina and that I know somewhat what belongs to the composing of a Letter is it not granted that Letters containing business of consequence ought to be apposite and exact that they require a foundness of Judgement rather than Eloquence that they admit not any superfluity or expression and are compleated by what is pertinent and that it be especially considered that there be order and perspicuity Yet I told you there must be withal added she a certain dress of Civility which is that which puts a difference between the Letters of consequence written by persons of Honour and those of others and in fine it is necessary that the person who writes understand well himself what he would express to another for I know not any thing more insufferable than to write a Letter that shall need an Expositor and confounds things instead of explaining them And yet there are a many people replied Clelia who think they understand themselves when they do not But Plotina is none of those replied Amilcar for I assure you she knows very well what she says and therefore I should take it as an infinite obligation if she would shew me how Letters of consolation are to be written and whereas there happen frequent occasions to write such I should take her directions in five or six which I would preserve as patterns to imitate when need were for truly I find nothing so contrary to my inclination as this kind of Letters For when ever I intend any such instead of any condoling or sympathizing with such as are afflicted I find my self more inclined to divert than bemoan them and I am so far to seek what ought to be said and what not that I can never compleat a Letter of this nature without writing it several times over nay when all is done cannot dismiss it without some blots and scratches and therefore the fair Plotina would extremely oblige me to shew me how to write them Could you but see my apprehensions of it replied Plotina you would certainly do it with great ease for I can by no means admit these tedious consolatory Letters as proving always fruitless whereas it might be said or some people they write as if their Letters should have in them some Magical force against affliction and that they who read them ought from thence forward abjure all regret for what they have lost But I am to wish withal added she that people would be perswaded once for all that only time is the comforter
of such afflictions and that it is not the proper office of Eloquence Moreover what measure of consolation is to be applied to such as are not over afflicted The safest course a man can take in such cases is to let his consolatory Letters be very short for to observe a certain moderation therein he is only to acquaint the person he writes to how much he is concerned in his affliction without digressing into tedious Lamentations or high Elogies not ingaging the numerous forces of Moral Philosophy and Eloquence to no purpose It is very true says Amilcar and you are questionless much in the right For how many Women are comforted for the death of their Husbands when indeed they neither need nor care for it Nay how many persons are there of all relations who should people accommodate themselves to their secret thoughts were rather to be congratulated than bemoaned since they are not sorry that they are heirs to those for whose deaths they are complemented I therefore resolve amiable Plotina added Amilcar never to write any Letters of consolation but such as shall be short not to disturb Morality and Eloquence on these occasions to make no more those long exaggerations against the cruelty of death as some do as also not to study high Commendations or spins out long Panegyrick and in a word absolutely to conform my self to your directions I shall not trouble you to tell me how a man ought to behave himself in congratulating anothers good fortune 't is an Art I am absolute Master of and I can furnish you with ten or a dozen beginnings of Letters of that kind abating those that start out thus I congratulate your I conceive my self so much concerned in your and the like which are too low for persons who would be thought Masters of Wit But I should take it as a transcendent courtesie if you would shew me how I might acquit my self well of those Letters of Recommendation whith are given unsealed to those whom one thinks fit to commend and particularly how those to whom one writes may understand whether it be his earnest desire they should do the business proposed or is indifferent whether they do it or not for when I am at Carthage I am in a manner persecuted with such emergencies For my part replied Plotina when I commend a business which relates to such as for whom I have no great esteem I write a short dry Letter yet not wanting as to Civility nay you shall find in it the word Intreat but it stands so alone that it is not fastened to any thing On the contrary when I effectually desire a thing might be done I first of all make appear that what I desire is just I give a good character of the person whom I recommend I express what friendship or esteem I have for him I put the obligation is done in his favour upon my own account I ingage the person to whom I write in point of honour to do him some good office and to make all secure I write by some other hand whereby I confirm all I had writen before For what concerns me said Clelia I would gladly learn how to write to a sort of people with whom onely Civility obliges me to hold a certain correspondence who yet are such as you would not favour with your friendship nor take any pleasure to oblige In the first place replied Plotina I should advise to write to them as seldom as might be for I can by no means away with that sort of people that write to no other end but to write who so readily charge themselves without any necessity with the receiving of hundreds of Letters from persons whom they care not for and are for the most part pleased when they send or receive without any choice And in the second I should wish when one is obliged upon the account you speak of a man would not express in his Letters either too great wit or too much friendship for certainly a man injures himself who writes a high and over obliging Letter to a person of ordinary parts wherefore there must begotten a kind of colder civility which is soon found when looked for which is used towards those for whom we have no great love nor esteem when by some considerations of acquaintance we are obliged to write to them and it is in such emergencies as these that we are to make use of those Letters which are called Letters of Complement wherein there is not any thing particular nothing either good or bad containing a parcel of words and little sence not obliging either those who write them or those to whom they are directed to any thing as being dressed in such general terms that they may be directed to all sorts of persons without any particular address to any Judgement certainly is requisite in all replied Clelia as for instance it might be said there is nothing easier then the writing of news and yet there are some who write it most fantastically They are such replied Amilcar who write news often though they know not any who believe all is said to them write without order or choice who trouble themselves to write things that either none regards or are displeasing in themselves or have lost all the grace and insinuation of Novelty For certainly it is not more necessary that a woman to be a beauty be also young then that news be fresh and sudden to please there being nothing more unseasonable then a long relation of an old adventure Yet it must be confessed replied Clelia that there are certain disastrous accidents which some make it their business to renew the stories of and spread abroad as if they were lately happened which certainly is very troublesom to those who knew them before they were written to them But in my judgement when one writes a Letter wherein he would relate what had happened he is to consider what kind of news the persons to whom he writes are most taken with for I am confident there are some who are only pleased with those general narrations wherewith Fame it self comes for the most part burthened and would hear of nothing but Victories or Defeats the Sieges of Cities Conflagrations Deluges Insurrections and the like There are also those who matter not the general Occurrences of the World so they are but acquainted with what passes in their own Quarter whence it is but necessary we should sift their humours to whom we write when we are to send any thing of intelligence You speak very much reason Madam replied Amilcar but that which I would particularly learn from the fair Plotina since she seems to be so much exercised in it is to know in what Letters a man is permitted to display all his perfections and after what manner he is to discover his wit That certainly is a thing you know better then I replied she but that you may be satisfied that I am able to judge of the
in acknowledgement to those by whom he shall be assisted shall introduce them in his Works to the end to immortalize their Virtue For Phennius his Father-in-law and his first Master shall find a place in the Odysseus Mentor shall be highly celebrated there he shall also speak advantageously of Mentes and shall not forget a plain Mechanick who shall entertain him for some time at his house and thus he shall give an heroical testimony of acknowledgement in an age that shall be ungrateful to his Virtue But posterity shall at least render justice to his merit and acknowledge him to have been Master of a grand and prodigious genius with a natural facile and delightful style He it is that shall invent to begin a History in the middle to the end to suspend the minds of the Readers and give them a kind of pleasing inquietude it shall be he that shall introduce that admirable diversity of styles in which he shall never be surpass'd by any he shall be admir'd by the most eminent wits of Greece and acknowledg'd in all ages for a Poet worthy to be imitated in every respect by all others Judge then what glory will befall to you in overcoming a man whose name shall be famous as long as Reason shall be amongst men Hitherto I have told you of the past and the present I must begin with the amorous Mimnermus to discover the future to you Do not you perceive by his air and his aspect that he will be able to sing of nothing but Love 'T is he that shall invent the way of the bewailing Elegie for the fair Nanno his Mistress who by the sweetness of her voice shall inspire him with the sweetness of his Verse Nevertheless the Works of this excellent man shall perish and not live among those of others but yet there shall be enough to judge that he must needs have been a most delicate and amorous wit After this Hesiode believ'd he saw only all Peloponnesus the Sea that encompasses it and particularly the Cape of Taenarus and upon that Sea not far from the Cape a comely person carried upon the back of a Dolphin playing upon an Harp and looking sometimes towards the shore and sometimes towards Heaven as if he thanked the gods for some favor After which Calliope beginning again to speak He that thou feest said she is the famous Arion who shall invent the manner of Tragick Verses and the introducing of a Chorus he shall be ready to be slain by the mariners of a ship out of intent to possess his Money but having obtain'd permission to sing some Verses to his Harp he shall do it so well that the melody of his Song shall draw several Dolphins about the ship upon which Arion abandoning himself to them shall leap into the Sea and be receiv'd by one of those Dolphins who shall carry him to the shore and thus he shall find more humanity amongst Fishes than amongst Men. Then all these objects passing away Hesiode beheld an Island and upon the top of a Rock a brown Woman of indifferent stature and beauty yet she had quick and sprightly eyes and was of a very comely shape she that thou feest said Calliope then to Hesiode is the famous Sappho of Mytilene who shall be celebrated throughout all ages for the handsomness of her Verses especially for a certain passionate and amorous style which shall be almost inimitable She shall invent the use of the Bow belonging to the Harp which shall highly advantage the sound of it she shall love a disloyal person which shall be the cause of her death but though almost all her works shall perish yet her name shall live eternally she shall be styled the tenth Muse and in all Ages new Honors shall be ascrib'd to her But there is enough spoken concerning this Illustrious Lesbian therefore behold Alcaeus who shall live at the same time do not you see he has the aspect of a man of quality his birth shall be very noble he shall command the Armies of Mytitilene with his Brother Antimenides but one of the seven Sages of Greece named Pittacus shall possess himself of the Tyranny and eject them so that Alcaeus an excellent Lyrick Poet being incensed in mind shall begin to write against him and in general against Tyranny and Tyrants and make Verses which shall be accounted seditious His works shall be grave and strong he shall sometimes descend to Mirth and Love and succeed very well therein although more excellent for other things He shall have so passionate a soul that he shall desire to immortalize a little mark the person he shall love shall have upon her foot but he shall have the unhappiness to fall into the hands of Pittacus who contenting himself with the power to be reveng'd shall send him back again without harm and by that handsome action confirm to himself the prerogative of bearing the glorious title of Wise After this Hesiode beheld Alcaeus no more but saw a man disguis'd with a vizard in a Chariot who went to and fro in the middle of a spacious place in Athens encompas'd with the people He that thou feest said Calliope is Thespis who shall himself act the Tragedies which he shall compose and shall be famous for this sort of Works But then Dost not thou see a man who has a countenance sufficiently cheerful 't is Epicharmus who shall be born in Sicily and be the first inventor of Comedies which shall perish by time after having serv'd for a pattern to those that shall follow In the next place behold two Poets with grave looks marching together one of them is Theognis who rejecting Poetical fictions shall write Precepts of Morality in Verse Yet he shall sometimes intermingle Love in his Works and that with some freedom The other is Phocilydes of Miletum something more serious who shall write of moral matters full of instruction and draw the greatest part of his Sentences from the Books of certain Women who shall be called Sybyls he shall be imitated one day by a French Poet whose Verses shall for a long time be the first Lessons of Virtue for the young children of his own Nation They shall both begin their Works in recommending the worshiping of the Divine Power the honour of Parents and judging with Justice and fear of another Judgement which attends both the good and the wicked Then behold a man of a very comly person but blind 't is Stesichorus of Sicily a Lyrick Poet who shall come near to the grandeur of Homer 'T is true he shall be condemn'd for being too abundant but there shall remain nothing of him besides his reputation While he shall be yet in the cradle a Nightingale shall sit and sing upon his mouth he shall lose his sight for having spoken ill of Helene but recover it again by making a Work in her praise which he shall call a Palinode or Recantation But after having shewn thee Stesichorus alone I
must also shew thee him in company dost not thou see eight Men and a Woman they are the nine Lyrick Poets who shall be put together in resemblance of the nine Muses The first without comparison shall be Pindar of whom I shall tell thee afterwards and thou mayst see the rest about her who are Simonides Stesichorus Ibycus Alcman Bachylides Anacreon Alcaeus and Sappho who shall likewise be call'd the tenth Muse as I told thee before But to speak at present only of Pindar when he shall be in the cradle the Bees shall make Honey upon his mouth Dost thou not see that he is separated from the rest that environ him and that he has none near him but a fair Virgin with a Crown upon her head 't is Corinna who shall have the glory of surpassing him five times publickly and gain the prize for making better Verses than he Nevertheless he shall be a Poet of the first Order in the judgement of the greatest Poets that shall follow him He shall be so sublime that it shall be hard to follow him his style shall be lofty pure and chaste and truly worthy to entertain Kings and Princes He shall love chiefly to sing the praises of those who shall have been Victors in the Olympick Games However as I mention'd before Corinna shall overcome him five times Some shall say the reason shall be for that being very handsome her Verses shall thereby seem so much the more amiable others that making use of the Aeolian Dialect and Pindar of the Dorick which shall not be so elegant this shall give her the advantage But to discover a truth to thee which shall never be known to any other he shall be amorous of her and therefore take pleasure to suffer himself to be overcome by her Not but that this Woman must be so admirable for her Verses that the Tanagrians shall erect a Statue to her she shall also give profitable councel to Pindar for as he shall one day be boasting of himself in her presence she shall pleasantly mock him and tell him that he knows not how to make any thing since he knows not how to feign maintaining peremptorily that fiction is necessary to handsom Poetry Pindar afterwards endeavouring to improve this admonition shall offer her a work wholly fill'd with fictions connected together but this fair Virgin deriding him again ingeniously and beholding him with a mocking smile shall tell him they ought to be interspers'd with judgement and not cast in by handfuls as he has done And accordingly Pindar shall so well profit by her Counsel that he shall become the wonder of his own age and of those which shall come after him The most famous Conqueror of the World shall esteem him so highly that having taken Thebes he shall cause the house to be shewn him where Pindar dwelt to secure it from being pillag'd and shall preserve the goods of another Pindar only in respect to his name He shall also be happy in dying for after having requested of the gods that which is sweetest in life he shall have the advantage to dye without pain sleeping upon the knees of a person whom he shall love at the publick Shews After which a Statue shall be erected to him But in the next place dost thou see a goodly person well made and of a comely stature who has a Crown of Flowers upon his head and a very rich cup in his hand who is near a Table well furnish'd and encompass'd with people that are dancing 't is the famous Anacreon the great protector of Joy and Feasts Oh I beseech you interrupted Anacreon let me see whether you have not craftily adjoyn'd me to so many Poets that have appear'd to me as well as to Hesiode since you began to read Sincerely answer'd Amilcar I have made no alteration in translating this place and I engage to let you see all I am going to read in the Greek Original Let Amilcar read on said Plotina for perhaps we shall hear what you would be unwilling to tell us Indeed added Valeria I have understood by Berelisa and Clidamira that you will not relate any thing concerning your Loves 'T is true answer'd Anacreon That I do not affect to tell my amorous adventures and therefore I am loth to let Amilcar read this place for I should not care to have Calliope discover to you all my secrets Fear nothing reply'd Amilcar a Muse never speaks indiscreetly and the Translator is intelligent enough Proceed then said Anacreon And accordingly Amilcar began to read again in this manner at the place where he had left off But in the next place dost thou see a goodly person well made and of a comely stature who has a crown of Flowers upon his head and a very rich cup in his hand who is near a Table well furnish'd and encompass'd with people that are dancing 't is the famous Anacreon the protector of Joy and Feasts He shall have a jovial wit gallant delicate and natural his Odes shall last as long as the Empire of Letters shall endure he shall invent a sort of Verses that shall bear his name he shall make Elegies he shall sing the Loves of Circe and Penelope Lovers of Vlysses but this Work shall perish and he shall at length be one of the most famous Poets of all Greece he shall love after all the ways wherewith 't is possible to Love his principal Mistress shall be named Hold I beseech you interrupted Anacreon again and do not name her I must of necessity name her answer'd Amilcar for Plotina makes me a sign to continue my reading which he did accordingly thus His principle Mistress shall be named Euripile posterity nevertheless shall believe that he lov'd two other persons more ardently He shall be very well belov'd by the Prince of Samos called Polycrates who shall one day give him two talents but Anacreon shall restore them back two days after and tell him to refuse him without incivility that he was two nights without sleep for thinking how he should employ them and that he will not be rewarded with a thing that affords nothing but anxious and inquiet cares In his first youth returning from a great Feast he shall meet a Nurse holding a Child in her arms whom he shall justle so rudely that the provoked Woman shall pray the gods that one day he may as much honor her Son whom he then despis'd and accordingly that child shall one day excite love in Anacreon He shall invent a kind of Lyre with one and twenty strings and he shall dye by an unexpected and inconsiderable accident in the midst of a Feast at the age of fourscore and five years and shall enjoy after his death an immortal glory Whatever the accident be interrupted Anacreon that shall occasion my death in that age I think I have no great cause to be troubled at it but whatever Calliope has spoken of it I conceive I shall not do very
last Euripides shall die miserably for he shall be torn to pieces by the dogs of that King at a famous hunting The people shall say the cause of it was because he interceded for a man who had slain one of those dogs but the true reason shall be for that the King scarce minding his hunting any longer and being almost continually in discourse with Euripides jealousie and hatred shall both enter into their hearts so that finding him one day wandring alone they shall tear him to pieces and thus shall the famous Euripides die whom many judicious persons shall scarce dare to place above Sophocles But after having seen this illustrious Poet fix thy eyes a while upon a very little man who stands there on one side he is a Poet and nam'd Philetas he shall make Elegies full of very handsome fancy He shall be so lean so little and so light that the people shall report he always carries lead about him for fear the wind should carry him away He shall have a Mistriss named Batthis and shall dye through grief for not being able to resolve the argument of a Sophister He that thou seest in the next place is the incomparable Menander whose glory shall be immortal he is the man that shall refine Comedies who shall take away the insolent satyre from them and banish all that encounters modesty He shall have an inclination extraordinarily amorous for which reason there shall be much true modesty in his works He shall apprehend perfectly that a handsome Comedy ought to be a description or picture of the World and the passions ordinary to all men for no Poet shall goe beyond him in skill and exact observation of manners customs passions and inclinations of each particular of mankind There shall be other Comick Poets after him who shall confound all his different stiles and without observing all those varieties which are so necessary to these kind of Pictures they shall make Kings and Slaves speak after the same manner and confound the Tragick style with the Comick These cannot without injustice be equall'd to Menander who shall be gallant and polite throughout who shall have nothing but what either instructs or diverts Whence there shall be in the sequel of time a most grave and famous Author who shall prefer Menander a thousand degrees above him that shall be the most excellent amongst all others Menander shall be accus'd by one nam'd Cratinus to be sufficiently addicted to play the plagiary in Authors that preceded him but this Cratinus shall be one of those dangerous sons of Envy of which there shall always be some as long as there are persons of virtue that is one of those malicious criticks who seek not to instruct their age they live in but only to injure those they see more esteem'd than themselves Menander shall compose an hundred and nine Comedies and shall be Victor only in eight but posterity shall do him the justice to believe that it was by reason of the factions of his Envyers He shall be Disciple to Theophrastus a great friend to Demetreus Phalereus and so esteem'd by the Kings of Aegypt and Macedonia that they shall send a Fleet and Ambassadors to him to oblige him to come to them But in fine being yet in the flower of his age he shall be drown'd as he is swimming in the Port of Piraeus Look upon him that I shew thee next he shall be named Philemon and shall overcome Menander several times rather through good fortune than merit though there will be handsome fancies in several places of his Works but Menander speaking to him of his victories shall smilingly say to him Art not thou asham'd to have overcome me He is destinated to die with laughter at the sight of some uncouth spectacle he shall live fourscore and seventeen years and shall make fourscore and ten Comedies He that thou seest upon that great Theater and whom such a croud of people attentively listen to is Aristophanes he shall be of low birth and yet of great reputation and taking to himself a middle way between the excessive licentiousness of antient Comedy and the regularity of the New he shall please the generality of people His style shall be sharp subtle elegant full of ingenious setches and railleries but he shall not scruple to offend the fancy of the virtuous sort of people so that he may but give divertisement to the multitude He shall be extraordinarity bold in speaking against all the World insomuch that he shall make a Comedy against a Tribune of the people wherein he shall speak so sharply that no Comedian will venture to act that part whereupon being led by his Satyrical inclination he shall act it himself and for that reason be condemned to pay a great Fine That which shall blot the reputation of Aristophanes is that he shall be an enemy to Socrates and make a Comedy against him but on the other side he shall have the honor to have his Epitaph made by a great Philosopher after a glorious manner which shall serve one day for a document to the World that all great men are not always of the same judgement since another great Author speaking of Aristophanes shall say that in his works the Tragick and Comick style are confounded together the high and the low the sublime and the familiar very many superfluous words cold railleries and impudence diffus'd throughout He that thou seest next is Lycophron an Author famous for his obscurity He shall be of the number of those seven Tragick Poets who shall compose the Pleiades and he shall be ingeniously compar'd to a certain obscure Star which is in that constellation He shall be born in the City of Chalcis in Eubaea and shall be slain with the shot of an arrow Now take notice of that man who goes forth of a Temple and seems to be in amazement 't is Callimachus the Cyrenian who shall make Elegies Epigrams and other Works with sufficient approbation He shall make one among the rest that shall live a long time of which I will tell thee the subject to the end thou mayst understand Poets may sometimes have boldness which lead them out of the common road provided they be manag'd with judgement Berenice Queen of Aegypt seeing Ptolomy her Husband going to the War shall devote her hair which shall be very graceful to Venus in case he return victorious after which this Prince coming home Conqueror Berenice shall cut off her hair and carry it her self to the Temple of Venus where it shall not be found the next morning A famous Astrologer who shall desire to court that Queen shall profess that he saw it in the Heavens and that it makes a new Constellation there And indeed having really discover'd one that he had never seen till then it shall for ever after be call'd The hair of Berenice This is the subject of Gallimachus's Poem wherein making use of the boldness permitted to great Poets
too true and I too criminal to be excus'd But death added this despairing Lover shall without doubt punish me for my crimes for since I am the cause of that of the most excellent person that ever was I am unworthy to live And indeed to increase my despair continued he I will believe the unfortunate Clymene did not love Hesiod but only out of revenge and that it must be imputed to me whatsoever she has suffer'd by her affection to him But since it is not possible for us to live together yet at least we must reside in the same tomb and all I have acquir'd by my ambition shall be employ'd in that Structure Which fatal thought coming in an instant into Lysicrates's mind Belintha and Clemene's Aunt endeavour'd to divert him from it but in vain for having a Chariot in that Wood in which he had design'd to carry away Clymene to the Sea-side which is not far distant from it where a ship attended for him he caus'd the body of Clymene to be taken by his followers notwithstanding the tears and cries of these Ladies and himself helpt respectfully to lift it into his Chariot After which he caus'd it to be put into his ship and setting fail with all speed cross'd the Ionian Sea which is on the West side of Peloponnesus and landed not far from the place where the River which passes by the City of Elis discharges it self into the Sea and commanding Clymene's body to be carried into a Temple of Diana which was near the Bank of that River he perform'd to her all the honors of Sepulture which being done he gave himself wholly to bewail her death and caus'd a stately Tomb to be built for her in building of which he according to his promise bestow'd all the riches his ambition had gain'd him reserving only enough for his subsistence during that time and as soon as the Tomb was finisht the unhappy Lover shut himself up in it and dy'd for grief in having been the cause of so many fatal accidents though others have believ'd ambition had as great a share in his death as Love Thus Clymene was reveng'd after her death but she had not the sad happiness to be in the same Tomb with Hesiode who has had a glory transcending that of all others for the Orchomenians having consulted an Oracle which promis'd them much felicity if they could get the body of Hesiode into their power they of Locri to hinder them from it so carefully conceal'd the place of his Sepulture from strangers that there are few persons know it And moreover the Prince of Locri dying of Melancholly not long after the Locrians augmented the honors which they paid to Hesiode's memory whose very name intimates in his own language how purely he writ and whose glory is so celebrated throughout the whole World that it may be justly thought it will be so in all Ages Amilcar having done reading this History of Hesiode perceiv'd the minds of the Ladies were verymuch affected with it and that instead of delighting the company he had afflicted them In truth said Clelia the death of Clymene affects me very sensibly For my part said Valeria I have a greater commiseration of Hesiode than I am able to express I have the like for Lysicrates added Clydamira I am not of your opinion answered Berelisa for I never have any pitty for those that have once ceas'd to love though that Passion revive again in their hearts and I compassionate only Hesiode and Clymene My commiseration goes farther than yours said Salonina for I pity poor Troilus too But mine is yet greater than that you boast of answer'd Plotina smiling for I am almost dead for fear lest that poor Dog so faithful to his Master after having discover'd his Murderers be lost in the multitude of people or died of grief after having lost both his Master and his Mistriss All the company laught at the pity of Plotina and went forth to walk in several troops except Clelia Valerius Plotina Anacreon Herminius and Amilcar who began to assault Plotina with raillery for her pity to Hesiode's dog No no interrupted Anacreon do not set upon her with your jests for it perhaps her pity of that poor Dog has a more real foundation than ours for the death of Clymene for to speak sincerely though I am both a Greek and a Poet and am somewhere mention'd in the Prophecie of Apollo which you have read yet I cannot but believe but the History you have read is almost all of it invented Yet it is contriv'd ingeniously enough added he for methinks 't is not only handsomer than the truth but withal more probable History mentions nothing more of Hesiode than that he dwelt at the Town of Ascra in Boeotia near Helicon that the Muses inspir'd him and that an Oracle which spoke to him admonisht him to avoid the Temple of Nemaea which is in Peloponnesus that he travell'd into divers places that he obtain'd the Golden Tripod and that he got advantage over Homer in the judgement of Panis There are some also who affirm these two persons did not live at the same time however all that have written of Hesiode agree that he was at Locri and content themselves to say in three words that he lodg'd at the house of Antiphanes and Ganetor who had a Sister and suspecting him to be the confident of a Lover of hers killed him together with his slave that the body of the slave was found at a Cape or Promontory which was afterwards call'd by the name of Troilus in reference to him that the body of Hesiode was brought by Dolphins near a Temple of Neptune where a great sacrifice was solemnising that Hesiode's dog occasion'd the discovery of his murderers who were torn in pieces by the people and that for fear the Orchomenians should get away his body they conceal'd the place of his burial As for his Works he that invented this History has fictitiously ascrib'd to him only the Sonnet the four Verses which he relates Hesiode to have spoken and the Hymn which he makes him Author of for Neptune's Sacrifice Now it cannot but be acknowledged that fiction in this occasion has greater verisimilitude than truth it self When the purpose is to bring about extraordinary events it is no question handsomer to introduce lover in them than any other cause which has been practis'd by the inventor of this History for by seigning the love of the Prince of Locri Lysicrates Hesiode and Clymene he has made you know all these different persons and oblig'd you to love them which were to be the most unfortunate In the next place he has given probability to that which carry'd not much with it for there is far more likelyhood that two ambitious and wicked Brothers should be led to kill a man whom they look'd upon as an obstacle to their advancement by hindring their Sister from being favourable to a Prince from whom they expected the
Prince's mind against her I have put fury into his heart and weapons in his hand against the Prince his Brother the Princess his sister and wretch that I am after that I had seen Artemidorus perform the greatest actions in the world I went about to kill him with the shot of an Arrow But moreover the Gods to punish me for it have permitted that unfortunate Arrow to wound mortally both an innocent friend and the only person for whose sake life could be acceptable to me And nevertheless they will not let me dye they force me to live they keep me too as if I still deserv'd that any care should be taken of my life But 't is in vain added he that I am watcht and that every thing which might procure my death is remov'd from me I need neither steel nor poyson my grief alone will be sufficient to dispatch me For when I reflect that I am he who have brought my Princess into danger and that in attempting to kill a man whom I believ'd my Rival perhaps I have slain my Mistress I resent a torment a thousand times more cruel than death a torment greater than can be apprehended and which I cannot wholly conceive my self since at the same time I am overwhelmed with shame repentance grief and abhorrence of my self as much love as is needful to render my fault for ever unpardonable and as much rage as is necessary to make life odious and death desirable every moment Besides what have I to do longer in the World the Princess did not love me whilst I did nothing but studied to serve her judge therefore what sentiments she will have if she escapes for a man that would have blemished her honour taken the Prince Artemidorus's life away after an unworthy manner and who has endanger'd her own Had I gone about to kill this Prince as a man of courage may kill an Enemy it would be more pardonable but jealousie so transported me when I beheld Lysimena hazard her life to save that of a man whom I believ'd my Rival that in that accursed moment I abandon'd my reason and cast off all sense of virtue and honour to mind only a speedy revenge But alass the Gods have already reveng'd the cause of Lysimena for I hate my self so horribly that I never had a more ardent affection for her than I have now detestation for my self In this manner reasoned the unfortunate Meleontus whilst the wise Cleanthus endeavour'd to pacifie matters at the Castle where he stay'd Cleanthus said Plotina interrupting Amiclea has done me a pleasure in arriving and I should be glad to know a person who has so excellently educated the Prince Artemidorus For my part said Clelia I fancy him to be like one of the Sages that are so much spoken of For I have heard him so extoll'd by Merigenes the young King of Phaenicia and the Prince his brother whom he instructed that I imagine him to be a very excellent person To testifie the submission of my will to yours answer'd Amiclea I shall describe him to you and indeed I am something of such an humour that I am loath to pass over my Friends without commending them a little when I speak to persons that do not know them and I conceive generosity requires as much from all people and that there is some pleasure when we are alone to remember we have done justice to our friends when they were mention'd I beseech you said Plotina let us speak of Cleanthus and leave the pleasures that we find in our selvs for as for my part I am perswaded they are the saddest pleasures in the world Yet they are the most solid answer'd Clelia Believe me added Plotina agreeably solidity is not to be requir'd in pleasures 't is sufficient if they be sprightly and jovial if they dazle reason and follow one after another if they be various and deceive us and amuse us agreeably and to put the thing in practise after having had the pleasure to relieve my self from a long silence by what I have said tell us amiable Amiclea what a person the wise Cleanthus is Know than reply'd Amiclea he whose description you desire is a man of transcendent merit and his eminent vertue has plac'd him above envy and the envious His lineage is very good and it would be easie to find wherewith to commend him in many things which are extrinsical to him but not to speak of ought but himself I shall content my self with telling you that tho Cleanthus be arriv'd to that age wherein time is wont to efface part of the lineaments that compose handsomeness in a face yet he has still a serene aspect full of spirit and sweetness which pleases infinitely His eyes partly discover his wisdom and goodness and tho he is not tall yet he has a good personage and the absolute air of a Phylosopher that practices more vertue than he teaches There appears so modest a joy in his converse so prudent a complacency in all his discourse and a goodness so real in all his actions that his conversation begets a love of vertue in all that are capable of it Moreover he has been chosen as I told you before to instruct two of the greatest-Princes in the World in several considerable kinds of knowledge besides the Prince of Leontium and Artemidorus He has all his life so passionately lov'd study that it may be said he never spent day without learning something so that he has compos'd an infinite number of excellent works which are indubitable testimonies of his knowledge and vertue For there is scarce any thing of which he has not written plausibly with intention to profit the publick and render the Readers of his works either better or more knowing which in my judgement is a very great commendation But tho Cleanthus be very learned and his works deserve to live immortally yet I admire his vertue more than his knowledge especially having preserv'd it immaculate in the midst of a great Court where for the most part such as are most vertuous find it something difficult to persist exactly in the purity of their own sentiments But as for Cleanthus nothing changes him he is so solidly vertuous but his vertue is sociable far from asperity or savageness which perswades rather by sweetness than impetuosity and which by the calmness of his mind renders it sufficiently manifest apparent that he has been a long and happier Studier of Wisdom for he is none of those who know vertue without following it and teach the vertues which they never practice On the contrary Cleanthus speaks more morality by his actions than his discourses and instructs no less by his manners than by works Thus you see what a person the wise Cleanthus is whose presence calm'd so great a tempest But to proceed as soon as the Princess came out of her swoon she thought upon Artemidorus Zenocrates and seeing me in her chamber with tears
follies wickednesses frauds and treacheries that I think it better to wish to know ones own heart well than those of others For my part said a man with a fierce aspect I should wish to be the most valiant man in the world And I to be the most eloquent added another Eloquence and Valour answer'd Amilcar are two excellent things but 't is good to wish at the same time to know how they ought to be us'd for to speak truth they are a strange sort of people who understand nothing but killing of men and I am much of the sentiment of those of Agrigentum who have a Proverbial saying amongst them That Valour is like salt good for nothing by it self and yet good for almost all things But as for Eloquence it is not less necessary to know the right use of it for an Eloquent person who declaims always in conversation is very troublesome and as often as any one wishes Eloquence he ought to remember to wish judgment with it As for me said a Greek who was present I should much desire to write such excellent things as I might believe would descend to Posterity and that with glory and I am assur'd if Anacreon who hears me would speak truth he would confess that the thought of being one day translated into various Languages and commended in several Ages is infinitely sweet to him I assure you answer'd Anacreon smiling if you knew that pleasure by experience you would not account it so great as you imagine for at the same instant that I think perhaps my Works will live a long time I think perhaps I shall not but shall infallibly live less than they So that this chagrin strangely troubles the pleasure of this pretended immortality Anacreon is very equitable in speaking as he does said Amilcar for those pleasures are properly the pleasures of fancy not but that I know well 't is almost a general weakness to affect to have our names live but to speak truth upon a serious consideration 't is but a folly for cannot we judge by what is said of those that have written before us what will be said after us of those that write at this time 'T is true they are sometimes commended but yet they are blam'd at least as much as they are prais'd They are robb'd and ill translated and besides though it were not so what concernment can we take in things which shall happen when we are no longer concern'd amongst the living Believe me then let us be contented with present pleasures let us enjoy our glory whilst we live let us seek to obtain the praises of such as are alive and let us not care for being commended by people not yet in being whom we know not and never can know No doubt there are a thousand agreeable things in the Odes of Anacreon which will not be understood two thousand years hence because Manners Customs and Gallantry will be chang'd with the Ages Nevertheless I allow that people may by the by comfort themselves in some manner against Death which the thought of having some priviledge above the Vulgar and leaving a name which does not die with them but let us not account this amongst the most exquisite pleasures nor so affirmatively ascribe to our selves an imaginary immortality which perhaps posterity will not give us for I assure you every one does not live in this manner who desires it and many people think they write for immortality whose works will die As for me said a very amiable Virgin who was sister to that Lady of Praeneste who had spoken before I am confident my wish will please all the Company Tell it quickly then said Amilcar 'T is to be invisible answer'd she Ha! Madam reply'd Amilcar this is the first time no doubt that so fair a person as you made this wish In good earnest added she I know nothing more agreeable than this But what would you do with your invisibility said Amilcar smiling I would make use of it answer'd she to know the secrets of all the World and especially to know truly what they who do not love me speak of me As for my part reply'd Amilcar I have no curiosity to know what my Enemies say for I easily imagine it But I confess to you I should be ravisht to know that my Friends spoke of me in the same manner when I am not with them as when I am For experience has taught me there are few people but upon some occasions make railery upon their Friends or at least endure to hear it made in their presence Yet this is very culpable answer'd Berelisa But when we have Friends said Clidamira who have certain natural defects which cannot be conceal'd as deformity or the like what ought we to do Never speak of them answer'd Berelisa But if others speak of them reply'd Clidamira 't is necessary to agree with them When we cannot contradict them answer'd Berelisa we must blame them of injustire in accusing vertuous persons of defects not in their power to amend rather than to commend them for a thousand good Qualities they are indu'd with and thereupon we ought to take occasion to praise them and exaggerate all that is commendable in them for there is nothing more unworthy and unjust than to upbraid any one with his natural defects However it be said Amilcar let us return to invisibility of which various uses may be made One might thereby be present at all the Counsels of Kings and Master of the secrets of all the world and nothing besides the thoughts alone could escape the knowledge of an invisible person It would be good in affairs of State and War but chiefly in Gallantry for we might deceive all Husbands Mothers Aunts and Rivals but being by ill hap this wish is one of the most difficult wishes in the world to be accomplisht let us see what the remainder of the Company wishes For my part said a man of Ardea who was very rich and ingenious I would wish to have no Envyers You would then answer'd Amilcar have no vertue be poor deformed and miserable for whoever has good fortune merit and virtue has Envyers infallibly As for me said an amiable person who sate next Berelisa I should wish more to be an accomplisht man than an accomplisht woman As for this wish answer'd Amilcar I find nothing to say against it for though women are infinitely more amiable than men and I love them a thousand times better yet I judge Madam that you have wish'd very judiciously for were there no other reason than that which allows us to use Courtship and Gallantry and forbids it you I should account your wish very just For my part added another Lady I should like well of immortality I am wholly of your mind answer'd Amilcar and this wish is the best of all for it would be great pleasure to see the whole Universe continually change being unalterable ones self But to speak truth this happiness
possible she should receive them As to your first question replyed Collatina it is not true to the second I must confess it that you may not justly blame me But I pray replyed Collatina who is this fortunate Rival of mine who presumes to write so amorously to Lucrecia and who expects to be answered I know not replyed Collatina and as you came in I was going to Brutus who is on the other side of the Garden hoping to know of him who hath sent hither within these three or four days for I have taken this Letter from Lucrecia unknown to her I know not the writing and all I can tell you is that it is not Herminius's Ah Sister you are too cruel to raise a jealousie in me and not inform me of the Rival that causes it This past though Collatine came purposely to give Lucrecia a visit yet instead of repairing where she was he went with Collatina to Brutus little imagining that the Rival he so earnestly looked after stood nearer him than he thought Being come up to him he asked him whether there had been any great company at Racilia's since his last being there whereto Brutus not guessing at Collatine's intention and thinking he asked him that as conceiving him only able to say yea or no simply answered there had not been any body But I pray replyed subtilly Collatina came there not some Slaves hither directed to Lucrecia that brought her any Letters Brutus who could not imagine what she would drive at and knew not of the coming of Slaves answered again simply that he had not seen any But do you not know this writing said Collattina shewing him his own Letter not thinking he had writ it and did you never know any Letter received by any one of a writing resembling this Brutus looking on what Collatina shewed him was much astonished for he presently perceived what it was However he had such a command of himself that neither his Rival nor Collatina could observe any disturbance in his countenance But to gain time to reflect on this adventure he took upon him to read the Letter over and over and having in so short a time well considered the business he concluded that Callatina knew not he had written it for he suspected not that Lucrecia had betrayed him but believed that some accident yet unknown to him had brought this Letter into his Rivals hands Fearing therefore he might haply shew it to some body that would discover it to be his writing he took at once a crafty and confident resolution for having sufficiently considered the Letter he with a simplicity excellently natural told Collatina that he had never seen any writing so like his own as that was No no I warrant you replyed Collatina abusing him you never writ this Letter I do not tell you that I have replyed Brutus without the least disturbance but only tell you that this character is much like mine Upon this Collatina and his Sister left Brutus without the least suspicion that he had any hand in that they were so inquisitive about so much were they deceived in his fained stupidity besides that if they had not thought him so stupid they would hardly have suspected he should write to one in whose company he was every day Thus was Collatina excessively disquieted for the more he strived to guess who should write this Letter the more unlikely was he to find it On the other side Brutus was not without affliction for he was not a little troubled that this Letter fell into the hands of Collatine not so much for his own interest though it concerned his life as for Lucrecia's So that seeing Collatine and his Sister halted to talk together he took a walk about to find out Valeria that he might acquaint her with what had happened by whom Lucrecia might be informed conceiving she yet knew not that she had lost the Letter He was so happy as to meet with Valeria in a place where he might safely tell her what he pleased Valeria having reasoned a while with him about what was to be done to hinder this adventure from spreading any farther went immediately to Lucrecia To gain time they entreated Hermilia having acquainted her with the business to go meet Collatine and her Sister and entertain them in discourse while they should resolve what to do They were indeed at a mighty loss but at last Valeria told her that since there was no name mentioned in the Letter it were best that Lucrecia first spoke of it before Collatine and that she took some occasion to say that she found it in one of the walks on the Fountain Feast day when there were so many people at Racilia's and that she could not imagine whose it should be Ah Valeria replyed Lucrecia I cannot have that confidence You must have much more replyed Valeria if Collatina shew this Letter as directed to you Besides Brutus's life being concerned in it if it should be known to be his methinks nothing is to be sticked at But if you would replyed Lucrecia you might do what you propose to me for though I am confident that Collatina must have taken this Letter out of my Cabinet when I left her in my chamber you may say you gave it me to keep I will do so said Valeria but you must first see whether Collatina have taken any more Going hereupon to satisfie themselves in what they desired to know they found that of all Brutus's Letters there wanted only that and so went to entertain Collatina his Sister and Hermilia who were in a low room while Racilia was busie with some that were expresly come from Rome to speak with her They were no sooner entred the room but Lucrecia perceives in Collatine's eyes the first startlings of a violent jealousie and in Collatina's a fierce indignation Nevertheless she kept her countenance and not expressing any notice she had taken of the change of theirs she asked Collatina where she had met her Brother and afterwards asked Collatine what news at Rome Whereto he answering coldly Valeria who knew what she had to do began to play upon him for his sadness and telling him that when a man is in a melancholy humor he should never make visits but stay at home I was not replyed he coldly so sad when I came from home as I am now And what sad accident have you met with by the way replyed Hermilia It may be replyed Valeria he hath lost a Letter of as great consequence as that I found the last Feast-day when there were so many people here I am sure if I had lost such a one I should have been extremely troubled But before you can lose any of that nature replyed subtilly Lucrecia it must be conceived you are fit to receive such It is then a very strange Letter replyed Collatina To be free with you answered Valeria it is such a one as in my judgment seems very like a Love-letter and were it
not that the over-curious Lucrecia had taken it from me lest I should shew it to some one to find out who writ it and to whom it was directed I would presently shew it Collatine that he might assist me to discypher it Valeria spoke this in apparence so ingenuously that Collatine began to hope that the Letter he had might be the same which Valeria spoke of So that desirous to be satisfied he solicited Lucrecia to shew it him Collatina who was of the same opinion with her Brother tlod her that she must communicate that Letter for they both concluded that if she could not produce it they could not charge her with any thing Hermilia for her part knowing what Valeria and Lucrecia drove at took occasion to tell Collatine that that Letter was not so terrible For in fine said she very cunningly it is easily perceived that he who writ it is in love but there is nothing whence it may be inferred that he is loved But why did you not shew it me says Collatina to Valeria Because Lucrecia was pleased to take it away from me replyed she but to engage her to shew it you I should in revenge make you believe that she her self lost it Ah Valeria you take a strange course to make me shew it but I shall not do it added she if Collatine and his Sister promise me not never to speak of it and to restore it me as soon as they have read it nay I will do nothing if that you may be disappointed from shewing it to others you consent not it may be presently torn to pieces You may imagine my Lord that considering the violent desire which Collatine had to be satisfied in this business he promised to do what Lucrecia would have and that his Sister did the like But for Valeria and Hermilia Brutus's life being concerned in it as also the reputation of their friend they did that in this adventure to deceive Collatine and his Sister which cannot well be imagined Lucrecia pretended to go and fetch the Letter which she said was in her Cabinet carrying her self so in the business as if she made no question but to find it there But as she went to her chamber which was the other side of the house she spies me coming in and points to me to come straight to her which I obeyed but not affording me leisure to speak she told me what had happened and I promised her my best assistance to deliver her out of the trouble she was in I went therefore immediately to the company as if I had not met her at all soon after which Lucrecia returning I saluted her as having not seen her before But Lucrecia having returned my salute began to tell Valeria that she asked her for a thing she had not and that she must have taken it again out of her Cabinet for added she I am certain it was there yesterday and as certain that it is not there now I assure you replyed Valeria I took it not It must be then Hermilia replyed Lucrecia For my part answered that fair creature I can assure you I have it not But replyed Valeria speaking to Lucrecia is it not because Herminius is here that you make a new difficulty to shew it No indeed replyed she for I am confident of Herminius's discretion but there is nothing so certain as that some body hath taken it It must be then Collatina that hath it replyed Valeria for as to Hermilia I see by her looks she hath it not Valeria herein speaking the truth Collatina blushed so that Lucrecia Valeria Hermilia and I said all together that certainly Collatina had it that she must produce or at least for her justification permit Hermilia to search whether she had it about her or not To be short this confident wench who yet does every thing she does handsomely and discreetly beset her self to do what was given her in charge Whereupon Collatina perceiving the Letter would be found about her and believing by the cheerfulness of the other three that the business was as they made it told them laughing that it was true she had it But she added a little lye to the matter for she hath since confessed she took it out of the Cabinet but she then affirmed she had found it in Lucrecia's chamber As for Collatine he was so glad to think the Letter had not been written to his Mistress that he joyned his entreaties with mine to his Sister that she would deliver it since she confessed she had it Collatina accordingly delivers it to Valeria who was very earnest to have it saying it was she that found it and consequently it belonged to her But as soon as she had it she shewed it to Collatine as if she had not known that he had seen it Collatine also pretended he had not read it before but coming at last to my hands I said I knew who had written it and to whom it was directed but would not discover it because the Lover was one of my friends This past I earnestly entreated Valeria to bestow that Letter on me for if you knew said I to her in what affliction the Lover is who writ it you would pity him But to satisfie you further in this adventure you are to know that this Letter was never seen by the Lady to whom it belongs for he who writ it had it about him the day there were so many here intending to send it to his Mistress that evening which was the time he could with most ease deliver his Letters to a young Slave she hath lately entertained You will therefore do justly if you restore it to me and never speak of this accident for by divulging it there will be a necessity of discovering what men were here at the celebration of the Fountain-Feast and then haply it might be guessed what Lady were concerned in this Letter As for Collatine added I I have nothing to beg of him upon this occasion for I look on him as a man so rational that I am confident he will do that for my friend wich he would wish were done for himself were he so happy as to be in a condition to lose some Love-letter which the fair Lucrecia should have received As I spoke this after a manner ingenious yet earnest enough Collatine and his Sister were convinced the thing was no otherwise than as I said so that the jealousie of this Lover was by this means absolutely smother'd But to disguise the business a little further Valeria said she found some difficulty to deliver me the Letter for it may be added she if you restore it to him that writ it he will send it to his Mistress and so I shall occasion her receiving a Love-letter And if he do not send that replyed I he would haply write another more passionate therefore trouble not your self with these groundless inconveniences but let me have that which you have found Hereupon Hermilia Lucrecia