Agria and at the end of it found the Man that Neander had set Sentinel near the high-way to conduct me to the place where the Prince was hid without this precaution our task would have been difficult to have found him because the Forrest was vast and full of Thickets But Gods what a joy exalted me when I recovered the sight of my dear Prince what words did I not utter what tears shed when it was permitted me to embrace him for whom some hours before I had been shook with such just apprehensions But then what a pleasing satisfaction was given me when after I had receiv'd my Princes Caresses overflowing with affection I learn'd of Neander the inquietude he had suffer'd for my absence and his resolution after he knew the truth from Neanders mouth who could not refuse it to his pressing importunity to return back and run our fortune without permitting us alone to expose our lives for his safety A design so Noble from which Neander only withheld him by force in so young a soul pleasingly confirmed me in those hopes I had already conceived of the height of his courage and after I had express'd my resentments of his Nobleness and he rewarded us with tears of acknowledgment for what we had done for his preservation and as proofs of an excellent disposition paid some to the memory of that innocent Son of Rodon I caus'd him to mount on horseback and so we got out of the Frrest and continu'd our voyage My Lord the particular passages by the way deserve nothing but silence and to give way to things of more importance which I must inform you of Within a few days we left Aegypt at our backs and having traversed part of the Desarts of Nubia which are contiguous to the two Realms we enter'd Aethiopia and took our way toward the great City of Meroe where that mighty King then made his residence Our young Prince suffered the incommodities of the Voyage with an admirable courage and patience he was ever the first that urged our departure from those Towns in our way where I had oblig'd him to stay and take some repose we called him not by his right name lest the news of his safety coming to his Enemies ears should make them try to find Traytors in Aethiopia as they had done in Egypt and for that cause we accustomed to call him Cleomedon with design that none there should know him by any other name except the King and such other persons as must necessarily be trusted with the truth But why should I detain you longer We arrived at Meroe whither we had sent Neander some days before to advertise the King of our Princes coming and excuse the entrance of his Dominions without permission with the pressing necessity of his flight The King of Aethiopia one of the best and justest Princes upon Earth who hated the Roman Tyranny and ever honour'd Cleopatra exprest much joy at the confidence that great Queen repos'd in him and dispos'd himself to treat the Prince her Son as his own he would have given him a magnificent reception if Neander had not disswaded it instructed by the fear that we had to divulge that which former considerations taught us fit to be concealed The King to favour our Design was content to receive him in his Cabinet where he gave us a particular audience without admitting any to be present but such as he knew would guard the secret The Magnificence and Furniture of his Palace had doubtless astonish'd any persons but such as had dwelt in the Court of Cleopatra where there glister'd more sumptuous Pomp and Glory then all the World beside could boast of yet we there saw such an abundance of Riches as custome to behold such sights could not keep us from surprisal for as I believe you know in Aethiopia Gold is so common that it is employed by Persons of the lowest Rank upon the most vile offices But to contract my discourse upon this subject I shall only tell you That as the Majesty of the King challeng'd our veneration so the countenance of my Prince wrought an effect upon his Spirit that soon made him consider'd as the Son of Caesar and Cleopatra for he accosted him with a Garb that justified his Birth and saluted him with a stately modesty that had nothing in it but what was great and graceful which rather stir'd up admiration and respect than pity I had prepossessed him with some few instructions which he made use of with a most becoming grace and after he had render'd his due salutes to the King Great Prince said he my Parents whom Fortune hath abandoned have bequeathed me to you with a belief that you will not refuse me your Protection and with them I demand it of you as the sole Prince of the World from whom I am willing to receive it He said no more than these few words which he utter'd in a Kingly fashion and at the same time I presented the King with the Queen Cleopatra's Letter who presently acknowledg'd the Seal to be hers and in it found these words The QUEEN Cleopatra to the Great Hidaspes KING of AETHIOPIA THe Knowledge I have of your Vertues bids me hope that your Affections will not change with our Fortune and that having been our Friend and Allie in prosperity one Calamity can neither make you forget our Amity or Alliance Upon this confidence I give you mine and the Son of mighty Coesar whom the Arms of his Enemies have chased from his Native Country and reduced to ask a Refuge which but from you I would not beg of any If the Gods consent to guard us from the Roman yoak and oppression I shall dearly preserve the memory of this Obligation But if for expiation of ur faultt they have resolved our Ruine at least I shall perish with this comfort That I trusted not the dearest thing I had in the world but to him who of all Princes is most worthy of the confidence and amity of Cleopatra King Hidaspes having read these words and heard the Princes with a visage moystened with some tears that Cleopatra's misfortunes drew from his Eyes he turned to him and taking him in his Arms Son of Caesar and Cleopatra said he welcome I see and receive you with an unfeigned joy the memory of your Father and the Person of the Queen your Mother in me shall ever challenge a sacred Reverence Promise your self not only the same Offices from us you might expect from your own but be confident of our Protection so long as I have a man that can hold a Sword And thus my Prince was received by the Aethiopian King who presently caused him to be lodg'd in the Palace gave command for the provisions of his House and made his intention known to us that he would have him treated as his proper Son His orders were so punctually executed as in a few days we beheld our selves in as high a condition in Meroe
to render my life still serviceable to your interests I would not stock it upon so desperate a cast in this unequal Combat whereto I am now marching without any hope of Victory and this incertainty might happily induce me to preserve it if something did noe prompt me with a probability in this attempt of tumbling Tyribasus from the top of his plundered honour Madam if I can sacrifice him to your just resentments and redeem you that pretious liberty and repose of which he has so barbarously bereaved you at the price of his blood and mine I will spill them both to a drop and perish without reluctance but if death cuts me off before I execute the Traitor pardon the failing to my weakness and let pity preserve some remembrance of him who could not part with his life upon terms of more happiness and glory than to die for the rights of his Royal Mistress The perusal of these words laid a greater weight of woe upon my Soul than ever yet it supported and though of late it had been argued with many anxious perplexities yet I now resented so cruel an encrease of my misery as rendered me incapable of company and comfort I spent that day in Tears and Sighs but the next that succeeded it was yet more dolefully employed since it brought me the accomplishment of all my fears in the sad news of Caesario's bloudy defeat with the loss of his whole Army all those that had made me the recital assured me he was seen fall dead from his Horse after he had left some impression of revenge upon his Rival in two dangerous wounds he had given him and done actions besides of so stupendious a nature that they seemed to hold as great a disproportion to Truth as those fictious tales of our ancient Heroes Madam you will easily judge how cruelly the sense of this disaster stretched my heart-strings and to confirm that thought you may please to know that I sunk dead in my womans arms and lay a long time in that condition before the remedies they applyed could bring back my senses that were all fled away from their usual offices and when at last they waked me from my trance I fell a wailing my loss in the dolefullest accents that were ever expressed by the lawfullest and most impetuous grief and all my actions perswaded those about me that I was become an Enemy to my Life My woman durst not stir from me in that estate wherein they saw cause enough to fear that my own hands would dispatch the business of my despair and all that day I was strictly guarded rather as a distracted person than a Princess that in the preceding accidents of her life had given the world so far a Sample of her constancy When my sighs had left me some liberty to speak My dear Caesar cry'd I since thy soul is driven from her sweet habitation for my Interest 't is but reason mine should follow her to the other world and I am very willing to go keep thee Company by resigning that life which thou hast bought too dear at the price of thine would to heaven I could have condition'd with the destinies aforehand to excuse thy thred for mine thou should'st have seen me run into the arms of my pale Executioner with as great a greediness as hurry'd thee to this unequal Combat but since the Deities deny'd me that favour believe it I will do that without repugnance to follow thee which I would have done with joy to save thee there is nothing left upon Earth that has power to stay me here now when thou art gone and my last Act shall tell that monster who thinks he has securely seated his fortunes upon thy ruine that all those flattering hopes will prove Impostours To these succeeded a world of other words to the same purpose and as the kindness I shew'd Cleomedon had been publiquely Authoris'd by the King my Fathers will so I made no scruple to avow the inclinations I had for him to all those that overheard me the force of my imagination still kept his lovely image before my eyes both day and night and my reason was sometimes so giddied with the violence of my grief as talk'd to my poor Prince in such discoursive terms as if I had seen him there in a condition to return me an answer My sorrows were risen to this degree when Tyribasus came back to Meroe or was rather brought back in a Litter with the marks of Cleomedon's valour still about him which had made him run such a manifest hazard of his life He saw me not of divers days after his arrival as well because his wounds confin'd him to his Bed as that he yet fear'd understanding to what desperate estate the violence of my grief had brought me to appear in my presence but so soon as the success of his cure would give him leave to take the air he came to my Chamber My passionate detestation of his last act had still held it self up at the same impetuous height whereto it was risen at his first conception and I no sooner saw him that was the cruel cause of it set his foot in my Chamber but breaking into a furious out-cry against him Barbarous man cry'd I dost thou come to shew me the bloody spoils of Cleomedon and could'st thou not content thy self to rob the world and me of so great a treasure without increasing my horrour by bringing the face of this inhumane butcher in my sight com'st thou to insult upon the miseries of a wretch that is taking care to die since thy cruelty has bereav'd her of him for whose onely sake she lov'd her life and can'st thou not think thy revenge compleat in the murder of him that merited my affection to the prejudice of the unjust pretences but thou must rudely press into my presence to aggravate the weight of woe thou hast to my soul for ever Tyribasus gave way to this Torrent of words which was violently followed by divers others of the same stamp till they had wearied out my weakness to admit from a tumult of sighs and sobs the short interruption of some moments silence in which vacancy striving against the stream of his own thoughts to express some sorrow for what he had done I am too deeply concern'd in your displeasure said he to sing any Io Paean 's in your presence for a thing that immoderately afflicts you and though the death of my Brother with divers of my friends besides the dangerous impediments he strewed in the path of my intentions and his particular design against my life might leave me little cause of regret for the loss of Cleomedon yet truth her self is my witness that his death cannot sink so deep an impression of grief in your spirit without stamping some sensibility of the same nature in mine and were it now in my power to give him his life though I knew it would prove yet a greater foe to my
displeasure but knowing the prompt and impatient humour of Tygranes he thought it not then fit to press him farther After this he stayed some daies before he renewed his request and the King knowing his intention and how his honour was engaged grew cautions to envade all occasions that might again betray his ear to such addresses and by putting on a more serious and cold aspect than ordinary endeavours to rebate the edge of his importunity but he dealt with a spirit which neither fear nor all the considerations of Interest and Fortune had power to stagger in the prosecution of what so weightily concerned his word and honour for which he had no sooner seconded our solicitations but with a firm resolve to expose himself to all the hazard and danger that could menace his enterprise he went to find the King in his Cabinet and with a brave assurance in his looks demanded the performanc of his promise that referred to our release Tygranes took these words very ill at his hands and he saw himself obliged to reply Ah Artaban said he turning his head aside how little care you keep to please your friends How Sir said Artaban would you approve my complacence should I counsel you to violate the royal word you have pass'd and I too in your behalf to the greatest Princesses in the world The word you have given reply'd the King who began to kindle at the liberty of his language does not engage you at all since the execution depends not on you and you shall fairly excuse and acquit your selves when you tell them that I have changed my intention Though that were enough to disengage me answered Artaban yet Sir it leaves the debt of your promise unpaid and I am tenderly enough concerned in what touches your honour to oppose my self with all the credit I ever gained in your thoughts to an action that exposes you to eternal reproaches It was only to you reply'd Tigranes that I passed my promise and the knowledge of your self and me will not let you be ignorant that I have power to revoke it when I please Artaban whose courage could never bow to any base consideration could not tamely pocket discourse so full of an angry scorn and regarding the King with a haughty eye and with that natural fierceness that was ready to start into his looks and actions when his courage wak'd it Sir said he I am not born your Subject and it was only my unconstrained will that brought me to unsheath my Sword in your service where-with you have reaped too fruitful a harvest of profit and glory to treat me justly with so much contempt and indignity if you think the passive obedience that may be required by a Soveraign from a Subject will serve to acquit you of your promise your plea is not good against a man that owes you no allegiance and one that has done more for you than all your Medians at a lump together Sir if you have any room left in your soul for the consideration of services those I have rendered you may possible be found important enough to merit something more than what you have accorded The services you have done me replyed the King inflam'd with choler have all been prerequited by degrees of honour misplaced by my bounty upon you to the prejudice of many persons that had a juster title than you to their possession and though your services be already overpaid know I am willing to add another recompence in suffering your insolent language to pass without a punishment which I can as easily inflict as you have saucily deserved it These words strangled all the consideration of patience and respect in Artaban and as his rage had then rendered him utterly incapable of fear regarding the King with an action full of disdain think not King of the Medes said he that I can either shrink at your threats or be bought with those benefits wherewith you upbraid me No both the one and the other are too much below me and so long as I carried this sword about me that put the Crown upon your head and cut you out a condition to talk like a Master upon the King of Parthia's Territories that a few months since had scarce a corner of your own to secure you I shall teach it to defend me against all my Enemies and gather fairer Flowers of Dignity and Honour in the wide field of the World than any I can hope from such a King as You perhaps I may carry it into places where it may prove as it has been serviceable to you and by the assistance of my abused spirit I may one day compel You to keep your word or at least disengage me of mine At the close of these words he turned his back upon the King without paying the least reverence to his person and holding his hand upon the guard of his sword went out of the Chamber with an action so terrible as of all those that were near the King there was not a man so hardy to oppose his passage or had courage enough to come near him Tigranes remained so astonished and confus'd at this adventure as he knew not where he was nor had he then the assurance to reply one word or call to his guard to arrest him he might easily have taken his Life and those thoughts that were the eldest children of his anger did vote it so but some of the chief Nobility then about him that held Artaban's vertue in a great veneration step'd so readily in to mediate in his behalf by insinuating the memory of those grand things he had done in his service as believing he could not put him to death without a barbarous ingratitude that would render him odious and detestable to all the Earth he contented himself to send him a Command by the Captain of his guards to get him out of the City the same day and appear no more in his Dominions upon forfeiture of his life This sentence of Artaban's banishment was perfectly superfluous since if the King had offered to have bought his residence with a large reward he would have stayed no longer in his service he had no sooner left the presence but he came to our lodging with all the haste he could make for fear delay should give Tigranes leisure to cut off his passage to that visit with a prohibition He strugled with himself before he came at us to sweeten and suppress all that was terrible in his looks yet he could not do it so smoothly but we observed some alteration there which neither the grandeur of his courage or respect had power to disguise he had no sooner aborded us but addressing himself to the Queen Madam said he I am come with unspeakable regret to avow my impuissance and ungrateful King a Prince that violates his word and a Man unworthy to wear a Crown has rob'd me of the means to restore you your liberty and by the help of an injurious
arrival of some order from the King of Parthia that might probably countermand these favourable intentions presently accepted the proposition and though his affection hotly disputed against the necessity of resigning me into anothers hands the impossibility to close the wounds of his broken estate and buy his liberty at a lower value confuted all the arguments it could urge and he immediately sent order to his Commanders in the City to draw out the Garrison and leave us as absolute Mistresses there as when it was first taken His orders were punctually obeyed the Medians quitted the Parthians entered the place and we saw our selves at the same moment free and reigning where we had so lately and so long been captives Tigranes had likewise his liberty restored him and retired with his men towards the frontiers of Media upon the Parole and with the Convoy that Artaban had given him to clear his passage through those parts of the Parthian Dominion that lay between him and his Medians After his departure the Triumphant Artaban whose valour had unâ—inion'd our liberty quitted his Camp to give us a visit in the City and his presence was then far dearer and more agreeable than when we first saw him the year before The Queen believing she should not offend her dignity by stooping it with a just acknowledgment to her Protector embraced him with tears of joy and if I made him Caresses that were lesse familiar at least I endeavoured to spread my face with as pleasing looks and put as obliging words into my mouth as might serve to let him see that my apprehension was in no arrears to his merit the Queen and I fell both upon the subject of his admirable valour and the exact observance of his word with Elogies that proved oppressions to his modesty the first part of our discourse was woven of nought but Praises and thanks on our part of Respect and Submission on Artaban's and after the Queen had amply declared him her resentments and was turned from him to receive some of the principal Commanders among the Parthians that were come with Artaban to render their dutious respects to her Majesty taking hold of that occasion You have entirely captived our Faith Generous Artaban said I to your future promises and taught us to believe that the world has not difficulty capable to retard their effects but if we be indebted to the brave performance of your word the King of Media's violation of his has more obliged us since if he had strictly observed his engagement to you in our behalf we only should then have thanked him for our liberty and his ingratitude had not blindly given us Artaban with it Artaban said I whose valour disposes the destiny of Empires and who from that groveling and deplorable estate to which he had once reduced it has lifted that of the Parthians to its proper sphere and made it shine again with the same lustre which his invincible arm had once sequestred Artaban returned an answer to these words with a flexure of his body as low as my foot and methought received them with a peculiar air in his looks that would not have worn that destruction to any other person making so many witnesses of all the actions and syllables that parted from him that the glories he had gathered from the honour of his employment in our service did far out-value all those advantages we had reaped from the effects of his valour Madam said he I could not miss of success in so just an enterprise and the interests of so divine a person as your self were too dear to the Gods to be left to the disposition of men by these invisible blows they struck in your quarrel the King your Fathers arms have obtained the victory upon the injurious detainer of so precious a liberty and 't is your interest in heaven that rebated the points and edges of your Enemies Swords against which no humane power is capable of resistance 't is to those Madam if the gain be estimable and not the fault of Tigranes that you owe your Artaban and such as he is you are more indebted to him for your self than all reasons and resentments that anger ambition or any other motion could infer to arm in the quarrel He broke off at these words with a fear that his tongue had been too livish and indeed had I seriously examined them I should doubtless have found out something that tasted of too much boldness From that day he scarce ever discontinued his attendance upon us at such hours as modesty might admit him and his expectation of some farther orders from the King to whom he had sent an express of what had passed with a desire to know how he would have him to steer his course made him a plausible pretence for his assiduity In the mean time the Convoy came back that he had sent to guard the King of Media and the Gentleman that Commanded it presented me a letter that Tigranes had given him at their parting which the Queen beckned to me to receive and having opened it in the presence of her and Artaban who was then in our Chamber I read these words TIGRANES King of the Medes to Elisa Princess of Parthia I Have paid for your liberty to the double loss of mine own and the same destiny that made you my Prisoner for a time decreed me yours for ever The rigour of my fate has rent me from you but I shall quickly supercede the decree and vanquish the distance betwixt us and you shall see me return in the Van of 100000 men tod emand you of my cruel Enemies that made the divorce betwixt us I shall not enter your Fathers Territories to such an Enemy as an injured Lover in that quality they that hide you behind their bucklers will not find it an easie task to resist me and those powers that might possibly retard others will prove too feeble to oppose my design of your reprisal The Queen listened to this language without Emotion nor did it much uncalm the quiet of my thoughts but Artaban heard it with a grand impatience and gave me notice by the blood that hastily leaped into his face how deeply he thought himself concerned in the Menaces and design of Tigranes as well in the quality of a lover as an Enemy Perhaps said he with an action that expressed a great deal of anger he may invade your Dominions to his own confusion and the two qualities he speaks of may prove equally fatal to his Life and Love that I think we shall be able to secure our selves from the angriest part of his Menaces and if the Kings orders do but hold proportion to my hopes it may be we shall give him so hard a task to defend his own Country as will save him the labour of bringing the Oar into yours After this day we tracked more resentment and animosity against Tigranes than we had formerly discovered and methought I read a kind
vertue which your Majesty has honoured with so high an esteem since necessity requires those ornaments to excuse my rashness so long as any shall sit upon the heads of your Enemies we shall have right enough to promise you their possession Artaban in success of these words put a knee to the ground before the King a posture that he thought fittest to follow this hardy petition with when he saw his face turn pale then presently over-flowed with a fiery blush and in a few moments by the continued rising of more clouds grown the Omen of a following tempest In effect Phraates the proudest and most haughty hearted Prince upon earth was so deeply incensed at Artaban's demand as he had much ado to suffer the memory of his services to stop the natural course of his own inclination which you know by what you have already understood of his life was ever prone to bloody and barbarous affections However he made a strong assault upon himself to moderate the fierceness of his passion and regarding Artaban with a face full of scorn I cannot now wonder said he at your former proceedings and I find you had reason to disdain Offices of so petty a concernment since you had tyed your pretences to my Daughter and my Crown The boldness of that thought were worthy of an exemplary punishment in any person that weighed less in my estimation than you but the consideration of your services hath got your pardon in hope you will take future care to pull some Feathers from the wings of your ambition Artaban received this sudden change in the Kings stile like the blot of a thunder-bolt but his undaunted courage quickly came to his rescue from that astonishment when repulsing the danger to its own credit of such a surprizal and clearing his looks of all the troubles that had newly invaded them If the glorious reward I demand said he by a just computation does over-top my services they are above all things else that you are capable of giving nor can I be so weak an Arbiter of my own desert to lose the knowledge that I have added more to your grandeur by preserving one and planting another Crown upon your head than the greatest of your Neighbour Kings can bring to out-bid me for the title of your Son in-Law nor would I be mistaken to foster any thought that I have or can ever pay a valuable price of merit for so rich a Jewel but Sir if I be guilty let me dare to say your self is an accessary 't was you betrayed me to these hopes when you promised to pay my services with the dearest and most precious thing in the world I thought replyed the King that those favours which I never placed upon any but your self might have challenged the Epithets of dear and precious enough in your thoughts and so your own judgement saved you the labour of making so unlikely an explication of promises 't is from the valour of my own subjects that I hold the assurance of Parthia and the conquest of my other Kingdom and if your Sword hath carved me your share of victory since I did you the honour to place you at the head of my Army you have gotten glory and gathered profit enough from that employment to content any ambition that is less unreasonable than yours Yes Sir replyed the fierce Artaban the glory remains still in my possession and with the advantage of obliging none but ingrateful Kings 't is all the fruit I can shew of the scars I wear for you and the unfortunate Tigranes from whose lofty crest I plucked down Victory to perch her upon your Standards tumbled him from his Throne and chased him out of his Territories and all this to put you in possession of a power to treat me ill in yours those very Subjects to whose valour you are so deeply indebted methought defended you but feebly when the point of my sword was turned against them and had not I lead them the way to glory perhaps your old Subjects would never have subdued you new ones Sir I must know no fear to say that this hand alone put both the Scepters into yours and the glittering spoils you enjoy of those victories were purchased by my blood and bought with the peril of my life could just anger put my will to such an act I might yet change the lot of War and carry back the smiles of Fortune to your Enemies party and could I prevail with my self to do as much for Tigranes as I have lately done for you peradventure I should find strength enough to lift him up again to that throne from whence I pull'd him for your interests but the respect that I must ever preserve for the Princess Elisa forbids me to carry any aid to her Fathers Enemies and for her sake alone the Sword which is yet keen enough to cut the threds of as many Parthians as it has freshly done of Median lives shall never more be drawn either for or against you At these words he returned his back and offered to leave the room when the King staying him by the arm Say no more said he with a furious look that I am ungrateful for the services thou hast render'd me and in lieu of that grand reward thy fancy hopes did aim at receive thy life at the hands of my unmeritted mercy which thy Insolence has forfeited to the sword of Justice till now I never suffered reproach or menace from any mortal person and thou alone hast put my patience to a proof that would have been fatal to any other and may at last be destructive to thy self if thou dost not teach thy tongue more becoming language King of Parthia said Artaban since thou hast refused me all that I thought worth the asking I scorn to owe thee for either mercy or favour and if thou think'st I can take my life as a gift at thy hands know that I disdain to keep it at so base a ransom and now me-thinks as thy ingratitude has disfigured it it looks so ugly I would not receive it from thee but as the greatest plague that Heaven can send me coming from thee I refuse reject it as I did those offices and honours thou would'st once have given me and if thou hast not forgot what is past thy concernments will instruct thee to cut a man from the world that wants no more than intention to ruine thee The King heard not these last words for so soon as he had vented his own passion he turn'd his back to Artaban and had left a pretty distance betwixt them before he had done speaking Artaban rather dead than alive by the Kings example bent his steps to another part of the Garden and making choice of the most secret and untroden Alley that his sorrows could light of he buried all his hopes and comfort in the cruellest thoughts that ever shook so great a spirit this sad and sudden change in his condition had like
her Mean time by her counsel and for the interest of my own repose I sought for all the remedies that could be imagined to cure me of my passion I endeavoured by the sight of other objects to free my memory from this persecuting thought which was continually fixed there and I did not only frequent those Companies where I formerly found divertisements but I Courted all occasions to give birth to a new affection which might extude that which tormented me and laid such cruel constraints upon my happiness 'T was no easie matter to expel the Idea of Cipassis out of my Soul and it had made such an impression upon me that certainly whatsoever inclination I might have had to change I should have loved that sair stranger as long as I had lived if I had not met with obstacles in that Design which could not be removed and against which I could preserve no hope But yet 't is very true that by the continual endeavours I used and the firm resolution I had taken I conquered the greatest violences of my disease and hoped in time for an absolute cure of it It fell out sooner than I believed and proceeded from a place whence I expected it not and this is that which you desire of me and whereof I am going to make you an ingennous Relation The desire I had absolutely to rid my Soul of this importunate passion made me more assiduous than before at the appartment of the Princess Julia and the multitude of different persons which I saw there every day was no small help to the cure which I sought for I was there one Night with a great many other persons and Cipassis was there too the Princess entertained her a while in private and a little after walking through the Chamber she came near to the place where I was and having obliged by her Action those with whom I discoursed to leave me alone with her Ovid said the I am jealous of the Amity that Cipassis hath for you and she hath acquainted you with things which I thought she would not have trusted any with but my self Madam answered I I will make no ill use of the secret which Cipassis hath committed to me and if I were able to serve her in her Affairs I am assured that she would never repent her of the considence she hath reposed in me We are sufficiently acquainted with you replied the Princess to have that opinion of you but I would have you know too continued she smiling that you are obliged to me and ought to thank me for the interest I took in the bad success of your last affections I was not so happy in my former said I as to hope that Fortune would be more favourable to me in the rest but howsoever it be I am not absolutely miserable in my misfortunes if I have been so happy as to deserve the pitty of our great Princess I did really pity you replied Julia though in some sort you merited your distiny by bestowing that to no purpose upon a stranger which with more success and satisfaction to your self you might offer to the fairest and the most sublime amongst the Roman Ladies I received the Princesses Discourse with a prosound respect and humbling my self as my Duty was I am not so blind said I as to be jested out of the knowledge I ought to have of my self and that which is most fair and most sublime in Rome cannot condescend so low as Ovid Remember added Julia with precipitation the Heroical Epistle of Cephalus to Aurora which you shewed me a few dayes since and judge by that that extraordinary men may elevate their thoughts as high as the goddesses themselvs Finishing these words with that Air and admirable grace which she hath in all her Actions she left me at liberty to examine the words she had spoken to me and went to the other side of the Chamber to entertain the young Drusus who began at that time to give her secret Testimonies of that passion which a while after publickly declared it self When I was retired to my own private lodging I made a long reflection upon Julia's words and the inclinations we naturally have to flatter our selves made them seem very obliging to me and perswaded me that they were not spoken without some Design Could it be possible said I in my self that Julia the greatest Princess in the World designed for the Empire of the Universe and as highly elevated by her beauty and the Charms of her person as by the advantages of her birth should desire amongst the great Number of her daily Conquests to reckon the Conquest of poor Ovid Or rather that amongst so many Kings and Princes of the most eminent rank in the World which are upon their knees in continual Adoration of her she should turn her eyes from the lustre of their Diadems to let them fall so low as Ovid Remember said he that extraordinary men may raise their thoughts as high as the goddesses themselves I have not so much presumption as to believe that I am a man extraordinary neither have I so bad an opinion of my self as to think my self a vulgar person but in fine whatever I am I am certain that the words were addressed to me and that the Princess spake them to me in the conclusion of a Discourse which doth not a little confirm me in the opinion which I might conceive thereupon I added to this consideration the memory of divers other Actions by which Julia had alwayes expressed a particular esteem to me and at last I reflected upon the knowledge I had of her humor which was an Enemy to cruelty and to constraint I was not ignorant that though she was engaged to Marcellus by an ancient inclination grounded upon the merits of that Prince who was very worthy of her affections and upon the Emperors will who designed Julia and the Empire for him yet she had not observed an exact fidelity to that Prince but had often given him cause to fall into Jealousie and I observed at last that if she did not really engage her self to divers amiable persons who made love to her yet she was well pleased tobe beloved by them and did not punish the Declarations of their love with any rigorous usage which might drive a lover to Despair 'T was in the Number of these that I thought I might list my self after I had mustred up all that might perswade me to my advantage to confirm my self in that opinion I believed then after I had sufficiently flattered my self not that Julia loved me but that she would not be offended to see me amongst the great Number of her Adorers and knowing that I was well acquainted with love and had a particular Talent to manage it better than vulgar persons she was willing that all that I could think or conceive of that passion which ordinarily produces the most refined and delicate thoughts should have the divine beauties of Julia
and that without any order or dependency I should be very glad to understand from your self the accidents of your life such as are of greatest consequence as may best suit with a short discourse if it may be done without any inconvenience to you I shall be no lesse satisfied my Lord replyed Zenodorus to give your Majesty that demonstration of my obedience and respects and notwithstanding the palenesse which is so visible in my face and proceeds meerly from the quantity of blood which I have lost I feel no inconvenience that shall hinder me from giving you a relation of my adventures which were not haply worth your Majesty's attention were it not for one accident which being very remarkable hath accordingly made no small noise in the World With these words he came somewhat neerer the bed and sate in the place where the King had commanded him and having caused his men to leave the room Megacles received them and lodged them with the others that were in the vessel so that having by a little rest and some minutes of silence prepared himself for the discourse he was to make he began it in these terms THE HISTORY Of the Pirate ZENODORUS I Shall not be so dis-ingenuous as to deny that in the life I have led for these eight or ten years I have been forced to do many actions full of impiety injustice and cruelty that I have violated all manner of laws and committed all manner of crimes nay that by the constant practice of them I have contracted such a habit of evil as I shall haply find it no small difficulty to reform my self of But I would withal if possible gladly perswade your Majesty that a great part of the mischievous inclinations which are grown so powerful within me are rather the consequences of my cross Fortune than the effects of my own nature and that if the misfortunes that have happened to me since my departure from Armenia had not exasperated my disposition and corrupted my manners I should as I had been born with great inclinations to vertue have continued in the same esteem and reputation that I was in when your Majesty was pleased to honour me with more than ordinary savours and kindnesses I shall contract the discourse of my misfortunes as much as I can as well because I am unwilling to abuse your attention as that considering the condition your Majesty is in it were very unseasonable for me to spin out any over-tedious relation Your Majesty hath heretofore understood that I was born in the Frontieres of Judaea where the Fortunes of my Father were such that through the affluence thereof he had the means to purchase the estate of Lisanias which was a small portion of that Country endued with soveraign power and without appeal to any other Monark than the emperour Lisanias had possessed it as such for a long time but at last having for certain weighty considerations exchanged it for some other estate which my Father had and some monies he had gotten together in the several employments he had gone through in the wars my Father became the peaceable Lord of it and I by that means came into a rank which rendred me the more considerable among my neighbours I spent the first sallyes of my youth in the Armies and through the natural inclination I ever had to the wars I gained therein some reputation I was in that of Anthony against the Parthians and being not meerly a Souldier of Fortune and minding Factions I followed the Children of Pompey against Augustus Caesar and among other services I was at that famous Sea-sight that happened between Menas and Menecrates That war receiving a Period by the ruine of young Pompey I sought out new employments elsewhere visited the Courts of divers Kings and at last came to yours You were then but about 15 or 16 years of age and it was not long after the taking of the King your Father He honoured me very much with his kindnesses but he being shortly after taken by Anthony I had in those attempts which young as you then were you made to procure his liberty and afterwards to revenge his death the honour to follow you in a very considerable employmeâ—â— in your Cavalry and I was so happy as to have it from your own mouth that you were satisfied with my services and accordingly received those presents and acknowledgement from your liberality which I have had reason to celebrate ever since But besides the inclinations I immediately conceived for a valiant and a grateful Prâ—nce which engaged my stay in your Court longer than in all the rest another thing that detained me there was the beauty of Elisena I shall not need tell your Majesty who remembers it â—ell as having seen her that that Lady was one of the greatest ornaments of your Court that by her birth she was one of the most conâ—iderable and that in poinâ— of beauty and desert there was none comparable to her A man cannot well imagine anâ— thing more amiable or more excellent than her face but the advantages of her mind were no less admirable and the reputation of her vertue was generally known through the whole Court of Armenia Thousands of persons sighed for that beauty of which number I had no sooner seen her but I became one My love encreased from day to day till at last that passion became as violent in my soul as ever it had been in any though the most possessed by it I entertained her with all the demonstrations I could of it with respect earnestness and assiduity but she seemed to be little moved thereat and discovered very little resentment for all those expressions of love which she received from all the rest who made their addresses to her She was endued with a vertue which nothing could shake and was subject to a modest kind of severity which was proof against all passion Her inflexibility at that time drew daily complaints from my mouth and sighs from my breast but if I was troubled at the small success of my own sufferings I had still this comfort left me that the Fortune of my Rivals was in no better a posture than my own and that she seemed not to incline to any choice other than that which she should be advised to by those to whom she ought her birth But to be short my Lord why should I abuse your patience by acquainting you with things that you know your Majesty was pleased to employ your authority on my behalf you spoke your self for me both to Elisena and her Friends Insomuch that about the same time news being come that my Father was departed this life and that I was absolute Lord of that little estate which he had dyed possessed of as a soveraign Prince your Majesty was pleased to further my interests made appear the advantage of my allyance and to the confusion of all my Rivals though they were your own subjects I carryed away the
and am well pleas'd to find my opinion not erroneous and lest you should believe her a mean Person that hath engaged so great a Prince to this long Narration I shall let you know before I give a more ample Relation of my life that I was born a Princess and am lawful Queen to one of the most puissant and Rich Empires of the world At these words Tyridates rose from his Chair and making an obeisance as low as the verge of her Robe demanded pardon for the faults his Ignorance had committed the fair Queen made him the same excuses and when they had allow'd some time for this Discourse Tyridates being return'd by the Queens intreaty to his Seat thus pursu'd his Story I was born under an unfortunate Planet and those which consulted the Stars at my Nativity did all find me menaced by most malicious influences especially the Mathematician Thrasillus who before his Youth had done blooming had acquir'd a great reputation in that Science and does at this day pass for one of the Worlds living Wonders he saw me in Armenia which I visited in one of my unfortunate Voyages after he had perused some lines in my Hand and Face and been inform'd of the day and hour of my Birth he foretold my Miseries should not end but with my Life that neither should long continue that I was threatned with a Death which should be neither Violent nor Natural but participating something of both In my first Childhood I was nourished in the King my Fathers Court with a great number of Brothers of which I was the youngest Pacorus and Phraates being 16 or 18 years elder than I. I was not 8 years old when my Brothers the Princes Pacorus and Labienus broke into the Territories of Asia that obeyed the Roman People defeated Saxa and swel'd with their lucky success ravaged Cilicia with a part of Syria it may be you have heard of the progress they have made in so short a time But the end was much different for the following year they were defeated and unluckily slain by the Roman Army commanded by Ventidius Lievtenant to Antonius After the death of Pacorus the Prince Phraates my Brother not much short of his Age being already married succeeded to the Helm of the Parthian affairs for the King our Father beginning to stoop under his years desired the Comforts of a Calm Age and to be releas'd of the Troubles which his Youth had sustain'd At my tenth year the King sent me to a little City upon our Frontier where usually the Parthian Royal Infants were educated and there the Prince Pacorus had learn'd part of his Exercises I took some pains at mine with a success fruitful enough to content my Tutors and after I had there imployed about four years time and began to think of being called home to my Fathers Court I understood it had been lately dyed with bloud and that bloud Royal newly drawn from my poor murthered Brothers this Act hath been too well known to all the world for the honour of Arsacides whose name to all ages will stand blotted with eternal Obloquy the cruel and ambitious Phraates unworthy of the Race and Memory of Arsaces desirous to make sure of that Authority which he feared his Brothers might one day find means to disturb caused them to be barbarously slain and the aged King our Father for making his grief appear in his just complaints and declaiming against his detestable Inhumanity in some terms that displeas'd provoked him to compleat the Horror of this Age and the Infamy of Royal Dignity by the addition of Parricide thus punishing no other Crime in his murder'd Father than the giving life to that Cut-throat of him and all his Off-spring I had shar'd the same Fate with my Brethren if he that was dispatch'd with the bloudy Commission to the City where I was had not been touched with the sense of vertue and a respect due to the Extraction of Kings In stead of executing Phraates command he sav'd me from his Cruelty and having inform'd me in few words of my Brother 's deplorable Murther for that of the King my Father was not yet perpetrated with the charge he had given him But Arsanes said he will sooner choose a thousand ways to perish than consent to dip his hands in his Masters Bloud let us save our selves Young Prince and evade the dire design of that savage Monster that would destroy us I intirely resigned my self up to his conduct and being followed by my Governour with five or six Servants that were willing to run my Fortune I got to Horse and though I had scarce attained to 14 years I exposed my self to the hardship of a painful Journey uncertain to save a life which I never yet could own with comfort Thus I first grew miserable and began at an early age to inure my self to Banishment and thus I have learn'd to hope no better than to finish my disgrace and my dayes together Arsanes first conducted me to the Court of Armenia where the King keeping no very friendly correspondence with Phraates and not willing in his behalf to violate the right of Nations received me into his protection In that Court I enjoyed some Tranquility Besides what the King allowed me Arsanes had brought a quantity of Jewels valued at about a thousand Talents which the King my Father to whom he disclos'd the design he had to save me had given him at his departure but Fortune soon shew'd how much my repose displeased her by the Calamities that befell the good King that had given me shelter who most unfortunately fell with all his Family into the hands of Antony her Enemy and was led bound to Queen Cleopatra who some time after with most barbarous Inhumanity caus'd his head to be struck off This Disaster which doubtless you have heard being important enough to spread over the whole Earth sent me to seek another Sanctuary which Arsanes would needs have to be the Court of Media betwixt whose King and the King Orodes there was some alliance there I found the retreat I desired and staid two or three years In that time there happened the ruine of Antony and Cleopatra the establishment of Augustus Caesar in the Roman Empire and many other Revolutions in which the whole World was concerned The cruel Phraates often sent to demand me of the Median King but could never dispose him to put me into his hands yet after he had made many Incursions upon his Territories he at last obtain'd his promise to protect me no longer At Praaspa the Capital City of Media I receiv'd his Orders to retire colour'd with divers excusive reasons which laid the blame upon Necessity From whence I went into Bithynia where I was received by the old King Pharnaces who for two years time treated me with Humanity enough but at last the baseness of his nature shew'd it self And indeed what faith could I hope for from a disloyal wretch that
Enemy that would destroy you and probably me too unless you vanquish it The Queen ended with these words which I heard with admiration and during the Discourse having ralli'd part of the confidence fear had scatter'd I made it serve me to answer these terms I am unworthy Madam of this favour you have given me and since I have merited your Displeasure 't is fit I should perish for the expiation rather than reserve my self for such a pity as you lately mentioned nor should my tongue ever hazard a second purchase of your indignation if that generous bounty which keeps company with the rest of your admirable Virtues did not allow me liberty to justifie my thoughts before you I will adventure then to tell you That Love as I apprehend it can neither be odious nor considerable to the person beloved but by the effects it produceth since of it self it is obliging and advantageous even to the Creatures least capable of apprehension if my passion had hatched any desire within me contrary to your virtue you might detest it as a Criminal as an Enemy that would poison the purity of your Soul But if it shall never inspire any other than such as shall instruct me to revere those admirable qualities the Gods have given you to interest my self in your fortune and sacrifice my self for your interests where will you find a just occasion to condemn it Is it a Crime for Tyridates to do the homage of a pure veneration to the divine Beauties and Perfections of Mariamne Is it a Crime for Tyridates to give up all his thoughts and dedicate his whole time to this employment And is it a Crime for Tyridates to long for an occasion with the price of his Bloud and Life to buy repose for Mariamne Madam if I have other Thoughts other Desires than these punish me with all the rigour your first Resentments inspir'd you with and let the Divine Powers joyn with yours to compleat me the most miserable of all men But if you find in my Affection all the Innocence you require in the Gods name Madam give me leave to carry it to my Tomb it is a necessity which will never endure to be dispenc'd with a Favour which I conjure you by the remembrance of all that you hold most dear to grant me And if the place were clear'd of witnesses that I might be permitted to ask it at your feet I would never rise from thence till I had obtain'd it These words and the vehemence wherewith I pronounced them wrought upon the generous and tender Spirit of the Queen and stirred up such Thoughts as took her some time before she could get them out into Answer at length she dispos'd her self to it and as she was beginning we found our selves at the end of an Alley where turning to continue our Walk we spied Salome and the rest of the Company so near us as the Queen saw she should not have time to discharge her heart and seeing her Company staid to let us pass before we quitted the place she thus reply'd Tyridates If your Thoughts be such as you say I can find no just cause of Offence but were they yet more innocent I must counsel you and do with all my Soul crave of you if it be possible to discard them from your Heart since they cannot be but ruinous to your Repose and mine She said no more and whether it were that she was willing to pursue this Discourse no further or that she suspected the malicious spirit of Salome might ptobably raise a bad comment upon our privacy she joyn'd with the rest of the Company and would separate no more From this day I dated a happy change in my condition and believed my estate much more advantagious than formerly The Queen though she disapproved my research and saw the continuance of it with displeasure yet she endured it with a most noble patience that would neither suffer her to banish nor hate a Prince who ador'd her with a Devotion so pure and unbyassed as nothing in it could be found fit to censure and never hoping to advance farther in her favour I learn'd to stay my content upon what I had This began to restore my spirits and recal my colour and if my Face still shew'd some discontent it had a root in the Queens miseries and not mine The condition of this great Princess was deplorable and though the King loved her with an almost enraged passion such was her aversion to all the endearing passages of his love as She took them for so many effects of Heavens indignation and though her virtuous resolution held her to the severe rules of her Duty her great courage could not be pliable to such caresses as she believ'd not due to the destroyer of her Family and a man yet crimson'd with the blood of her nearest Kindred these disdains sometimes raised such tempests in the King as he was often ready to poure them upon her as the last effects of his fury but then would Love step in to check Anger and taking the reins from those raging Transports which he had suffer'd to get uppermost render'd him more soft and submiss than ever and sent him to seek that with Prayers and Tears which he could not obtain with all his menaces We were one day in the Kings Chamber whither he had invited the Queen and they standing together at a Window after some discourse which we heard not he proffer'd to kiss her but the Queen whether she thought such condescention injurious to Modesty in so great a Company or in effect follow'd the motions of a just Hatred recoil'd some steps back and turn'd away her head with disdain enough The King was so gall'd with this Action especially appearing before so many witnesses as all the power he could make was not capable to hide his Passion and beholding the Queen with eyes sparkling with rage and a Countenance on which Fury had spread it self You are unworthy said he both of the Honour was offer'd you and all those that went before it Go get you out of my Chamber and if you do not remember the destiny of your Fathers remember that I promise to make you know him for your King whom you now scorn to acknowledge for your Husband The Queen return'd no other answer to these cruel words than a disdainfull look which more provok'd him and saluting the Company without change of countenance quitted the Chamber to retire to her own The Kings Choler which had often produced horrid effects made the whole Company tremble only in me it missed that influence for all the prudence and discretion I could make had much ado to hinder my discontent from breaking loose and it was the consideration I had for the Queen and not my self that bridled it Yet not in such a manner but when I saw the Queen retire I hasted after and offer'd my hand to lead her to her Lodging But as her spirit was less
distemper'd than mine and had therefore more judgment at the Stern to apprehend how much the Civility I proffer'd might displease Herod and deeply endanger me she refus'd it and having no time to explain her thoughts she only made me a sign with hor Eye to retire I came back again to the King with much regret whom I had indeed displeased with this action but it was otherwise taken from me than it would have been from any one of his own Subjects he thundred still against the Queen in most bitter terms but seeing that without unmasking my inclinations it was in vain to speak in her defence with much constraint I silently heard all his injurious Language a few dayes after he was appeased by the powerful Ascendant the Queen had upon his spirit but he quickly relapsed again and their whole life was nought else but that continual Disorder which usually results from the incompatibility of Vice and Virtue In the mean time Salome had given so many clear proofs of her Affection as I could scarce any longer personate an ignorance and though she had still the power to foâ—â—id her self an open Declaration yet she had said enough and her actions had too well seconded her Discourse to permit me to doubt it I had sought all wayes to escape this discovery and when I was perfectly assured of the Truth yet I dissembled it as much as was possible Salome well judged by her actions and mine that I knew well enough what pinched her and this coldness kindled in her such a despight as in any Spirit but hers would have been capable to have quenched Affection We met one day at the House of Pheroras whom I often visited and who at that time was indispos'd after we had spent some time by the beds side Salome that longed to exchange some particular Discourse invited me to walk with her into an adjoyning Gallery pretending to shew me some Pictures I could not civilly avoid the snare and lending her my hand I led her thither where we entertain'd some time in perusing the Pictures wherein were represented the most memorable Events of the Judaick History there she shewed me so many admirable things as might pose the belief of all but those of their own Religion She pointed at some Captains which in the midst of their Battels with their Prayers staid the course of the Sun and gave a prodigious day to the Universe of others that opened the flanks of the Red-Sea for their Troops to pass through but she chiefly insisted upon the actions of David the greatest of their Kings and upon those of his Son Solomon which among them passed for a Miracle of Wisdom and relating in order the Life of that latter she particularly staid upon one Picture that represented a Beautiful Queen that fell so in love with the same of Solomon's Virtues as she abandon'd her Realm and travell'd a vast tract of Land to visit him Salome took occasion to assault me with this History having compriz'd it in a few words This Prince continued she was the wisest of all men and yet disdain'd not the affictions of a Prince that loved him but requited her with his to the satisfaction of all her Desires At these words Salome though in a little confusion beheld me with a fixed eye and by that action oblig'd me to answer her It was but just said I that a King so virtuous as you have spoken him should be flexible to so fair a Queen that had forsaken her Estate to eâ—â—pose her self to the hazard and inconvenience of a long Voyage to see him this enterprize was so considerable in the person of a great Princess as Solomon could not have been just as you have represented him 〈◊〉 he used her ingratefully You have said enough to convince your self said Salome and if these be your own thoughts you should consider what you owe to Princesses who 't is true have neither abandoned Realms nor traversed Provinces to see you but abandoned for your sake a Liberty more dear than Empires and trampled upon Obstacles more difficult to surmount than the incommodities of a Voyage This Discourse which I had alvayes feared put me to trouble past all dissembling and seeing my self oblig'd to reply I am too unfortunate said I to believe that ought can appear in the miseries of my Life but Subjects of Compassion the Affections of Princesses will doubtless find Objects more worthy of themselves and I am too far from imagining that a Wretch exiled from his Country persecuted by his King that hath no retreat upon Earth but what he owes for to the King your Brothers Bounty should triumph over those precious Liberties which are doubtless reserv'd for Persons more happy and for such as by the loss of their own with a long succession of faithful Service have deserv'd them Those that have bought them at a lower rate said Salome are more obliged than such as paid for them with Pains Blood and years of Service and without extream ingratitude they cannot prefer those things that have been dearly sold to such as have been liberally given them You are of this number Tyridates You evade the notice of Obligations that you may fly Occasions of Requital you are better esteem'd in Herod's Court than you desire to be and the Misfortunes of your Life are there less considered than the qualities of your Person You know this for truth though you force a cunning ignorance to disguise it You are too clear-sighted not to perceive it by a thousand actions and as many Discourses which have but too plainly declar'd it But disdain closes your eyes and ears and none but such a Soul as that you play the Tyrant with but would turn edge at your neglect yet she hath persevered many years in the same ardour and with much satisfaction would so continue her whole life time if you would let her hope that such a constancy should not go unrewarded While Salome pronounced these words her eyes let fall their looks upon the earth with all the signs of shame which she was not able to dissemble and indeed how should she when my self was so ashamed in her behalf as I had a harder task to hide it from her than to find words to answer her Madam said I after I had a while kept silence till now my Soul hath been so chain'd to the consideration of my Miseries as it hath not been capable of other thoughts and I have found so little appearance nay so little reason in what you have done me the honour to let me know as it could never have enter'd my imaginations 'T is this that must answer for the faults I committed and not a disdain which never grew in my Nature and which I should practise but unhandsomely The Gods have not given me those advantageous qualities to look up at a Fortune so little thought of and though it should offer it self indeed into my Arms in this wretched condition whereto
action full of transport and while thus my irresolution shook me with such terrible inquietudes Arsanes lost all his loyal pains about me but after he had alledged divers perswasive reasons to which I could not so much as lend attention Sir said he I doubt not but you dispose your self to this parting with much regret but if the care of your own life cannot oblige you consider the command you receiv'd from the Queen you will find it so express that if you have any respect left for her it is impossible to disobey it The Queens command replied I proceeds from nought but a compassionate care she takes of my life did she know that to die were a thousand times more pleasing then to quit her for ever she would doubtless permit me to stay here still Arsanes was about to reply though he could never have perswaded me when my Governour entred the Closet and told me in a few words that Sohemus desir'd to speak with me that favour'd by the nights darkness he had slipt into the Garden where he attended me not daring to approach farther without running a danger too manifest and giving the King such suspitions as might bereave him of the means to serve me I ran without replying to the place where Sohemus waited without a Torch or any company but Arsanes and my Governour and so soon as I came at him Well my dear friend said I embracing him then we must either die or separate and by the Cruelty of Herod and Fate either Life or Mariamne must be quitted Yes Sir replied Sohemus and if you use not diligence 't is possible you will have both snatched from you That may easily be done said I and I shall feel less pain and repugnance that way than violently to chain my Body where my Soul refuses to keep it company Then I repeated almost the same things I talked to Arsanes to which when he had lent an attention as serious as the troubles that involv'd us had left him Sir said he if you love the Queen you ought not to consult farther nor enlarge your explications upon her commands which cannot be but fatal to one or other if you neglect your own life you ought to consider hers and to believe that while you are in Judea she can never be in safety 't is not only against you that the Kings anger does lighten 't is rather her that this rising storm doth threaten and you have no other way to keep it off her head than by removing the cause of the Kings cruel Jealousie Then in order he briefly recounted what he had learn'd of the Conference between the King and Queen from the chief Eunuch who had over-heard it and thus by urging the Queens safety and repose he rang'd all that was repugnant in me under his obedience Yet I could not dispose my self to forsake the Queen for ever but I resolved for some time to fly the rage of Herod and in the mean time to go in search of some occasions that might either restore my condition by the knowledge he might gain of the Queens innocence or if it were possible procure to see her without her knowledge this was my hope that got my consent to part but I would rather have taken a thousand deaths than given it to take eternal leave of Mariamne While I discours'd with Sohemus thanked him for his good Offices and promis'd a perpetual Amity with such a share in my Fortunes as his own desires should crave if ever the Gods thought fit to change them and drew promises from him to persevere in his faithful assistance Arsanes and my Governour got ready our Arms and Horses and having caus'd them to be led without noise by three or four Parthian Servitors to the Garden Gate that had serv'd me from my Infancy and follow'd me in all my Voyages and having carefully pack'd up my Jewels and Money with what else was necessary I rewarded Sohemus with some Gems of great value and leaving others in his hand to give to Cleophe and the Eunuch that had been my Considents I bid him adien with tears in my Eyes and arming my self in a short time I got to Horse with Arsanes my Governour and my faithful Parthians without taking any Jew along with me or so much as letting them know of my departure I went out at the same Gate Sohemus enter'd which open'd into an unfrequented street while I issued out at the back-side of my Lodging the Front of it was assaulted by those that Herod had sent either to take or kill me and as they had order to environ my Lodging I had not trod many steps in the streets before I saw both ends of it seiz'd upon by a great number of Souldiers that shut up the passage on all sides I perceiv'd I should find it a hard task to save my self yet I resolv'd to sell either my life or liberty as dear as possible and turning to those that follow'd me Are you resolv'd said I to defend your selves like valiant men and either to owe your safety to your own bravery or perish with your Prince if the Gods have so ordain'd it they protested with one voice That they would die at my feet and being assured of their resolution I spur'd in upon those with my Sword in my hand that defended the passage and was follow'd so Couragiously by mine that my Enemies began to judge it not so easie a task to take me as they imagin'd I passed upon the Necks of those that first opposed me and cutting out our way with our Swords we bestir'd our selves so vigorously at the first encounter as after we had thrown many of our Enemies dead at our feet and scattered the fiercest of the rest the passage through the Street remained free and we advanc'd into another more large through which we gallop'd towards the Gate that was nearest And now we had begun to entertain some hope of escape when passing through a place adjoyning to the Temple we spy'd so many Troops of armed men from all corners approaching to us as we judg'd it very difficult to force them The light which the Torches cast shewed me Alexas the Husband of Salome in the head of the foremost and hearing him loudly animate his men either to take or kill me I ran up unto him with my advanced Sword in my hand which I let fall upon his head so forcibly that had not the blow been warded by a Souldier that put his Sword before it his life had payed for his Wives malice nevertheless the blow was not so slight but it threw him with a deep wound at the feet of his Souldiers the Jews raised a loud clamour at the fall of Alexas and in the mean time we charged in so successfully as we tumbled many of them dead at our Horses feet Indeed we did perform actions there worthy of some remembrance and 't is probable the Jews had never seen such a handfull of men in
made Tyridates respectively withdraw because she supp'd in her Bed and deeming her weariness requir'd what was left unspent of the night for repose he bad her good night but before he left the Chamber It is not just said she you should longer be ignorant of her Name and Fortune whose Life was so lately your Gift and that since seconded by a noble entertainment Eteocles continued she pointing at the man that was preserved with her shall begin the Relation and when you have learned those Adventures that have preceded mine whereof no man is better instructed than himself you shall know the particular accidents of my Life from my own mouth Tyridates civilly return'd his thanks for this promis'd favour and quitting the Chamber return'd with Eteocles to his own whom he compell'd to sup with him though upon knowledge of his quality he would modestly have refus'd the honour After Supper he caus'd him to be conducted to his Chamber and himself went to Bed where he passed that night in his ordinary inquietudes So soon as he waked the next Morn he saw Eteocles in his Chamber that came to give him good morrow whom the Prince courteously received made him come nearer and remembring that from his mouth he was to expect the beginning of those Adventures he long'd to understand invired him to a Seat by his Beds-side and having forced him to sit down You see said he a very inquisitive Man loath to dispence with the Charge the Queen hath given you and I can neither find time nor place more commodiously favourable than this to require satisfaction for it will not be a civil hour to visit the Queen till two or three be expir'd Sir said Eteocles I believe what she suffer'd yesterday will ask this mornings repose to unweary her the time I cannot better employ than in rendring proofs of my obedience to both your Commands And after a preparation of a short silence he thus began his Discourse The HISTORY of Julius Caesar and Queen CLEOPATRA BEfore I can enter the Relation of that great Queens Adventures whom I have now the honour to serve I must of necessity go back to the Life of another Queen Illustrious for Greatness Beauty and the Accidents of her Life above all others that ever preceded her You may easily judge it is the Queen Cleopatra I intend to speak of whose Name is not only known in this Countrey that was under her Dominion but has stretched it self to the remote corners of the World and will doubtless be a task for the Memory of Fame till the last Age. Of the Accidents that befel her with Anthony none are ignorant I shall only therefore lightly touch them but because her Enemies have endeavoured to black her Reputation with what happen'd in her greener years with the great Julius Caesar I am oblig'd in Conscience as he of all men with whom the Truth is best acquainted to defend her memory from that Calumny and give you a faithful account of those passages compriz'd in as few words as possible The Queen Cleopatra was Daughter as sure you have heard to King Ptolomee sirnamed Auletes and descended with King Ptolomee her Brother from that glorious stock of Kings that since the great Ptolomee friend and successor of Alexander hath continually sway'd the Aegyptian Scepter This Princess was born with all the graces that the Gods could bestow upon a mortal person the Beauty of her Body could not be match'd upon Earth nor had that of her Spirit less advantages and the greatness of her Courage infinitely rais'd it self above her Sex I would say more if Renown had not sav'd me a Labour and those Gifts of Heaven been too fatal to let me dwell delightfully upon the Story But the Prince Ptolomee her Brother was not so by inclination but being naturally prone and propense to Vice he suffered his flatterers by pernicious Counsels to corrupt and deface all that impression of good that his high Birth had left upon his Spirit which in fine tumbled him headlong in his last misfortune He receiv'd the Crown very young by the death of the King his Father and the unbridled liberty which he found in that absolute power sunk him in all his vices The Aegyptian people discontentedly considering these sad beginnings of his Reign and sighing to see themselves subjected to a Prince so unworthy to Command began to turn their eyes upon the Princess Cleopatra and perceiving how much she differ'd from her Brother in Spirit Majesty and all things else that might render a person worthy of a Scepter they repin'd that her Sex was an obstacle to their wishes and every meeting would freely confess to one another how much more they thought she deserv'd their allegiance than Ptolomee or rather Pothinus Theodorus Ganimed with the rest of the Rabble of vile flatterers which he took up from the dust to lift them to the highest Dignities or rather to give them the Sovereign Authority This unworthy Crew having once perceiv'd that Cleopatra's Credit was like to extinguish theirs in every Aegyptian Breast began to render her suspected to her Brother and easily perswaded that poor spirit that it was fit she should perish The ungracious Prince suddenly resolv'd to give the blow but having notice of his evil intention she retir'd from the Court and sought a refuge among those Aegyptians which she believed did best affect her nor did they abuse her confidence for a great part of the Realm arm'd it self in the quarrel divers Cities declar'd for her and if her party was not the most puissant at least it was compos'd of the honester sort of Aegyptians that a long time kept her safe behind their Bucklers against all the Forces the King could make At last after the inequality of number had given Ptolomee some advantage he besieg'd the Princess his Sister in the City of Pelusium whither she was retir'd At that Siege he was busied when the infortunate Pompey a dreadful example of Fortunes inconstancy that great man that had triumphed over three parts of the World and by an infinite number of Victories had justled for precedency with the renown of Alexander flying from the Battel of Pharsalia came to throw himself into his Arms there to seek an Asylum against the pursuit of his victorious Enemy Indeed all sorts of honovr and assistance were due from Ptolomee to the dignity of that Grand Captain and doubtless any Soul but his would have receiv'd him that a few dayes before was the greatest of all men with a submiss respect to his precedent condition but that disloyal man only prizing his present Fortune and not his Virtue hearkning to the pernicious counsels of Pothinus Theodorus and Ganimed that represented how advantagious an amity the death of Pompey might gain him with his Enemy butchered that unfortunate Prince upon the shore of Pelusium in the sight of his Wife Cornelia who hardly escaped by the Succours of her own men from the same destiny
she had of Caesar as a man that could not consent to violate his Promise given to a Princess of her condition in the presence of six Witnesses enough to convince him of Infidelity before Men and Gods which he solemnly invok'd in that action at last whether vanquish'd with Reason or undermin'd by her own weakness she yielded her self When Caesar putting his Hand in hers after he had call'd all the Gods to the Mystery he protested that he receiv'd her as his Spouse and solemnly swore that he would never own nor acknowledge any other These Protestations She seal'd with a Kiss in our presence and to contract the Relation the Company judging their presence no longer necessary retired and left Caesar alone with the Queen to take possession of those admirable Beauties envied of all the Princes of Asia which were then with an unbridled liberty abandoned to his desires Oh Gods cry'd Tyridates with a profound Sigh Gods Soveraign Arbiters of our destinies and what has the unfortunate Tyridates done to you that you should force him thus to trail on his Life without either happiness or hope when you dispensed so much felicity to the rest of Mankind These few words he passionately uttered with his Eyes lifted up to Heaven when Eteoeles thus pursu'd Her Story HYMEN'S PRAELUDIA OR Love's Master-Piece PART I. LIB III. ARGUMENT The Rebellion of King Pharnaces calls Caesar out of Aegypt and invites him to an easie Victory He leaves Cleopatra with Child The Birth of Caesario The early dawning of his rare qualities both of Mind and Body Caesar's Victory in Syria against Cato Scipio c. He wins the Battel of Munda against Pompey 's Sons which compleats his Conquests Comes to Rome and is made perpetual Dictator His ingratitude to Cleopatra He adopts Octavius and is killed in the Senate-House The Triumvirs revenge his murder by the Death of all the Conspirators Cleopatra 's care in Caesario 's Education Anthony in his Parthian Expedition summons her to appear before him He is taken in the Snare of her Beauty Repudiates Octavia and Marries her This rais'd a Quarrel betwixt him and Augustus which is decided in the Battel of Actium Anthony is overthrown and flies with Cleopatra into Aegypt The Conquerour pursues and besieges them in Alexandria Caesario is sent for safety to Hydaspes King of Aethiopia Is betrayed in the way by Rhodon and preserved by the Loyal Policy of Eteocles Hydaspes receives and treats him as his own Son Caesario falls in Love with Candace the Kings Daughter Anthony through a Mistake kills himself Cleopatra dies by the Bite of an Aspick The Character of Britomarus and his Haughty Pretences The gallant Combat between him and Caesario They are parted Caesario protects him Moderates the Kings Anger to a Banishment The brave Speech of Britomarus to Caesario at their parting SInce that Fatal Day which I know not whether I may call happy or unfortunate the great Caesar and the Queen Cleopatra entirely dedicated themselves to their unrestrained Delights and though the Marriage continued still a secret among us and while the day lasted they observed the same Ceremonies before Company they had formeryl us'd yet the nights by the means of Iras Charmione and my Father in whom the Queen repos'd a clear confidence still reviv'd their Contentments never did Love appear more amiable than in these two Persons Cleopatra liv'd not but in Caesar Caesar was Cleopatra's Idolater and they forgot nothing that might prove their Passion the strongest and yet the most sincere that ever invaded Lovers the whole Court nay all Aegypt took part in their Contentments though they knew them not and I think Rome her self scarce ever shewed so much Pomp as then our Alexandria was daily drest in The whole World knows Cleopatra was the most magnificent Queen that ever lived not only in the pride of entertainment in the splendor of her Festivals and the Gifts she bestowed on Anthony but in the whole course of her Life kept up her Royal Grandeur at that lofty pitch of Glory where she should still have flown and then perceiving her self the Soveraign of his will that was like to be the Soveraign of all men she forgot nothing that might help her to hold those advantages and Caesar not less satisfied with his Fortune judging her most worthy of his Affection was never weary of admiring the rare qualities of her Body and Mind which daily served to make his Love flame higher But at last Fortune interrupted the course of their mutual Felicities and Caesar that was not born to waste his life upon a Womans Lip for whom all great actions were reserv'd and to whom the Worlds Empire was destin'd was constrain'd to quit Aegypt and with his Army to pass into Syria where he had learn'd that Pharnaces King of Pontus Son of Mythridates and inheritor of the hatred which he bore to the Roman Name though not of his Virtues was up in Arms and had spoiled a part of Armenia I shall forbear to repeat the Adieus of these two Lovers for I do but touch upon their life as I pass by it and only take it in my way to another Story to which it serves me for a conduct Should I enlarge my self upon the Loves of Caesar and Cleopatra truth would engage me to defend the memory of that great Queen who doubtless hath been foully blotted by the ignorance of those that knew not of her Marriage but in that which befel her since with the deplorable Anthony I shall make but a short stay their unfortunate Loves and lamentable end being known to all persons in the World that are capable of understanding Cleopatra's tears were too weak to retain Caesar in Alexandria but he comforted her with the solemn repetition of his promise before us to call her to Rome so soon as he should be established in the dignity which his Ambition aim'd at of perpetual Dictator and then to declare their Marriage to all the World At that time the Princess began to perceive her self with Child and gladly believed that the assurance she gave to Caesar of it before his departure would yet more deeply engage him to remember his vows and the dear pawn he left behind him Thus Caesar marched into Syria leaving Cleopatra in Alexandria where she governed her People with such Moderation and Prudence as she taught all men to admire those Politick and Moral Virtues in her Sex that were rarely found even in men of uncommon parts she supported the absence of her dear Caesar with much anguish but she received frequent comforts with the News of his continued Victories not long after his Departure she learn'd that Pharnaces was defeated by him in a signal Battel and the War which in all appearance was like to last many years thus terminated in half a day a little after she received intelligence that in Affrica he had vanquish'd Cato Scipio and the King of Juba with a prodigy of Fortune and
your Servitors with some badge of your beauty I dare promise that there is not a person in this company able to dispute the prize of this day nor to carry away the Victory in any kind of combat I shall undertake for your service The words and behaviour of Britomarus were diversly receiv'd by the company many of the assistants censured them as inconsiderate and over-bold and some excused his Youth and imputed it to that true height of courage that had shewn it self in all his other actions of this number was the King himself who in stead of checking the young man's confidence witnessed that he approved it and commanded the Princess to bestow something on him Candace was ready to obey when my Prince who regarded Britomarus his action with thoughts very different from the rest and felt himself stung with Jealousie at rhe young mans hardy demand could not suffer the honour was intended him and conceiving the Princess's favour due to none but himself was loath that a person so much below him should carry away advantages which he durst not petition for and in the heat of this thought approaching the Princess and bending his knee before her I was not bold enough Madam said he to aspire to the grace Britomarus has demanded deeming my self unworthy of it as doubtless he is but if you must stoop to bestow it on one of us I hope I may believe that my hopes have the fairer title and will not come behind him in defending that glory in all our combats The Prince had no sooner spoke but his desire was granted and the King not permitting the Princess to reply Give the Prince Cleomedon a Favour said he Britomarus must not dispute his pretences and to satisfie him command some of your Maids to give him a present If these words seem'd cruel to Britomarus they were as pleasing to the Prince who receiving a Bracelet of Jewels from Candaces hands after he had kiss'd it with abundance of respect mounted on Horse-back with a transport of contentment and presently put himself in the head of those that were to begin the Courses Britomarus was call'd to receive a Gift offer'd him by Artimis one of the Princess Maids but he would not vouchsafe to look upon her but leaping on his Horse in a furious discontent convey'd himself out of the company without so much as entring the Lists The Courses began of which I shall pass particular Descriptions and be content to tell you that my Prince behav'd himself with so much active strength and bravery as he astonisht the whole Assembly eclips'd the repute of all the rest and confirm'd the King and Court in the pregnant hopes they had entertain'd of him after a great part of these Exercises were finish'd my Prince desirous to breath a while and withdrawing about one hundred paces from the prease to the fresh air he spied Britomarus leaning against a Tree and looking upon the manly sport his Companions made in the posture of a man much afflicted Though his carriage had displeased the Prince yet the rejection he had procur'd him and the esteem of his good qualities with the grief his looks confest at the affront was done him exchang'd his jealousie for pity In fine his excellent nature could not give him leave to see his affliction and himself the Author of it without endeavouring to give him the redress of some comfort with this resolution he softly gallops up to him spies his Face covered with tears and him in a condition sad enough to require a just compassion What Britomarus said he in tears Is it possible so great a spirit the marks of which we have acknowledged can descend to weep for so trivial a cause of displeasure Yes my Lord answered Britomarus I do weep and I should weep tears of bloud for the injustice of my Fortune that exposes me to miseries my courage cannot brook And have you no greater subjects of sorrow reply'd the Prince than those we know of No my Lord said Britomarus yet those are strong enough to drag me to my grave since Heaven in giving me courage has not given me a birth that will permit me to make use of it I am born my Lord with an heart as big as yours and possibly thoughts about it that look as high only Fortune has put a difference betwixt us which it may be Vertue intended not from this blind chance you daily take Commissions to wrong me and my condition ordains me to suffer it you have oft provoked me with shame and displeasure which though respect hath taught me to pocket without complaint my spirit could not learn to support it without sinking under sadness had I taken these injuries from a person with whom I might have measured my Sword wherewith I one day expect to reap some glory you should soon see this discontent dispell'd that clouds my brow but since I am abus'd by a Prince from whom I cannot hope that satisfaction I will turn my Sword against my own brest and punish the ambition there for lifting its head so high above my extraction While Britomarus spoke in this manner the young Prince heard him with admiration and thought he found something in his words that tasted of an unweighed irregular ambition yet he took notice of a Spirit so bravely daring as he could not disapprove it but withall clearly discovering his intentions and not willing to smother his own he answered him with a serious coldness I did believe Britomarus that our distance in quality did forbid all competition betwixt us that you need not have afflicted your self for some advantages I have seiz'd which to my thinking you ought not to dispute and this perchance has made me pass by that circumspection which I would preserve with my life not to injure persons of Courage I am sorry I have offended you and really to witness that I am so I will not seek excuses in my condition to refuse that satisfaction that may content you I will grant that to your Courage which your Birth could not suffer you to hope and possibly may make you know that Fortune has not put all the difference betwixt us Ah my Lord cry'd the young Britomarus ravish'd with Joy now you prove your self a perfect Prince poor Britomarus is a debtor to your Nobleness for the honour you profer My Lord I accept it with more gladness than I would do the gift of a Crown and will not otherwise use the Favour than to let you see that he that durst not demand it was not wholly unworthy of it and since you have offered it with so much generosity I cannot slight an occasion that proposes so glorious a remedy for the displeasures you have made me resent Let us go then reply'd the Prince beginning to be angry and if you desire this consolation let us fly the sight of such Persons that may hinder it our Arms are equal for I would be loath to use any advantage
which you want At these words he spurr'd away from the company and Britomarus hastily following with a fierce joy they soon lost the sight of the Assembly Yea they were loath to stay near it and the Prince unwilling to be interrupted in the first assay of his Manhood ran on about fifty or sixty Furlongs further till they came into a Valley where none could discover them There Caesario stop'd finding the place commodious and turning again towards Britomarus We will go no further said he let us give our Horses a little breath and then end our difference Britomarus his courage was so high flown as it would permit him to make no answer and suffering his Horse to breath a while he beheld the Prince with eyes that spoke nought but defiance The age of both was equal their stature little different and this the first time that either had worn Arms they had both Javelins in their right hands and Swords at their left their Horses were both good both chosen for the solemn exercise of that day scarce had they patience to give them leisure to breath when after a loud defiance they lanced their Javelins at one another with a force so impetuous as scarce was ever more fury shown by any of the rudest hands that ever were inur'd to the trade of War which they then but began to practise their Javelins were both shivered upon their Shields into a thousand pieces and the young Combatants passed by one another without the least staggering in their seats but they soon return'd with their drawn Swords as yet unused to this imployment and advancing them in the air with an action bravely menacing turning their Horses heads they flew the second time at one another more eagerly than before the first blows drew blood and the second made two deep wounds Britomarus was run through the left Arm and Caesario in the Thigh Never did two young Lions see their own bloud drop from the Hunters Spear with a rage more violent than that of my Prince and the ambitious Britomarus They equally breathed vengeance and victory and rushed together with so lavish a fury that if the Gods like them had forsook the care of their lives their practice in Arms had there begun and ended together They had each received another slight wound when my Prince coming close up laid hold on Britomarus his Arm and he not refusing to close with a like intention streightly ingaged him in his and thus locking one another in friendless embrace and putting spurs to their Horses they fell both to the Earth where they began to rowl o're each other with a most dreadful fury sometimes one was uppermost and then the other yet neither could keep the Mastery but in this strugling they lost so much bloud that at last both rising by a joynt consent they were scarce able to hold their Swords however in that staggering condition they fell to fresh blows and doubtless would have ended their Combate and possibly both their lives for as yet there appear'd no advantage on either side when we happily arriv'd to stop the mischief Their sudden departure had given us some outrage We were far from suspecting Britomarus his rashness but as faithfull care would seldom suffer me to keep my Eye from my Prince I had no sooner learn'd in what manner he departed but without stay mounting my Horse I ran after him with all the company I could engage and we came as I told you in a happy time to part these young Combatants whom we found in an estate that spake our arrival very necessary So soon as Caesario saw me he even sob'd with grief to see himself interrupted and suspecting not without likelihood that we would do Britomarus some outrage he put himself before him in a posture of defence and crying out to me as I first came in Father said he as you tender my life do not hurt Britomarus it was I that first assail'd him I compell'd him to defend himself and I will rather suffer death than him to he injur'd I will defend my self as well as I can said the fierce young man for it is not fit I should hold it of you having done my utmost to take away yours These generous and gallant words on both sides gave us new wonder in the mean time having taken care according to my Prince his desire that Britomarus should not suffer we hastily lighted from our Horses and ran to the two Combatants just as they were ready to fall to the ground with weakness I snatch'd my Prince in my Arms and wetted his face with my tears but whilst I was helping him on Horseback and getting up my self behind him he desired the same office might be done to Britomarus and not only content to take that care for him he made Neander get up in my place and sent me before to the King to beg the young man's Pardon and to protest that he would never come in his presence till he had granted it I obey'd his command but found it not so easie a task to reverse the Kings resolution who had absolutely designed Britomarus for punishment but at last he granted mercy upon condition that so soon as his wounds were healed he should leave the Court and never more return upon forfeit of his life In the mean time my Prince was conducted to his Lodgings presently put to bed and searched by Chirurgions his wounds were found not dangerous only the loss of bloud had done him the greatest miscief and after the application of some necessary Remedies they enjoyned him a silent repose without any disturbance till the next day In the mean time the bruit of his generous gallantry spread it self in a moment and the relation of Britomarus himself to his friends of the bravery and nobleness of his behaviour filled the whole Court with admiration Oh how gladly I drank up his Praises from every mouth how sweetly was my fear and displeasure vanquished that his wounds had given me the gentleness and grandeur of that first action made me gladly conclude him worthy to be what he was and though I blamed the Prince for that passage to prevent future hazards by the like yet I did it in such terms as gave him a clear discovery that I could not disapprove it So soon as the Chirurgions would permit him to be seen the King came to visit him and after he had exprest the interest he took in his recovery with words full of affection he fell a commending that action as indeed it merited and yet in some sort gently blam'd him by the consequence of an intreaty no more with so careless a valour to hazard the Son of Caesar and Cleopatra against a man of Britomarus condition The King was scarce parted from him when by his own orders the Princess his Daughter came to visit him but at that sight his joy was so excessive as his wounds had like to have broke loose and by the change
had been of his Party and was then a Companion of his Fortune at the end of their repast regarding him with a visage that breathed nought but Death Petreius said he 't is fit we dye to preserve our liberty for if we stay on earth but a few days we shall have no power left to put by the shame is prepared us I demand no other proof of thy affection but Death from thy hands and as my Fortune is now stated I cannot receive a greater from thy Friendship Here stab this breast pursu'd he presenting his naked bosom pierce this heart which the Arms of our Enemies have unluckily spared and make a KING fall by thy friendly hand whose courage scorned to bow under the fortune of a puissant Enemy He mingled these words with some others so pressing that Petreius could not refuse the fatal courtesie but without farther delay ran him through with his own sword the King not so much as turning his eye aside nor letting fall the least action unbecomming the grandeur of his spirit Petreius when he had seen him breath his last turned the same point against his own breast and throwing himself upon it with all his force fell dead at his feet thus were the festival Ornaments discoloured with Royal blood and thus did this great King catch up the shield of of death to defend himself from ignominy A few days after the victorious Caesar rendered himself Master of both the Realms and with them of the Queen his spouses liberty whom he designed for one of the principal Ornaments of his Triumph she was gone some months with child when the King her Husband lost his life and was brought to bed of the Prince my Master two days after her arrival at Rome whither Caesar sent her two months before he made his triumphal entry Thus was my Prince begotten free and the Son of a King but born a slave and between his Conception and Birth happen'd that deplorable revolution of his Fortune Some days after his Birth he was carried along as one of the most remarkable Ornaments of Caesar's Triumph happy in his misfortune that as yet he understood not the shame they made him suffer being then of an age incapable of resenting the loss of his Crowns his brave Father or the death of the Queen his Mother who resigned her life a few days after she had disclosed the little Heir of her misfortunes to the World But there wanted not persons that took care of his bringing up for the great Caesar from whom the disastrous fate of his Parents had drawn some compassion caus'd him to be brought up at Rome in the garb of a Kings Son and bestowed such a particular care upon him that scarce any of his neerest kindred in that high swoln prosperity was trained to a braver Education I will yet say further and believe I shall not injure truth in affirming that the losses of his estate were in part repaired by the gallant Education he receiv'd among the Romans wherein that tender age escaping the impression of the Affrican customs and the Company of such persons which falling far short of the Romans politeness might have given him a taste of the Barbarian his excellent nature contributed such marvellous assistance to the care of those that were ordained to form him that before his age could promise it he became as accomplished in all requisites of a Prince as wish could fancy and rarely skil'd in every undertaking to which his vertuous inclination carried him In his earliest Infancy Caesar would often cause him to be brought into his presence and observing that someehing Majestick and Heroical was already risen with that morning of his excellent beauty he let him get ground in his affections to that degree as one day he broke into an earnest protestation that if the little Juba for at his birth they gave him his Father's name seconded those hopes he had already begun he would restore him the Crowns of his Ancestors but he took special care to mould him to the Roman fashion and deface all such unpolished manners as his inclinations might possibly borrow from his Affrican blood Besides to fortifie the friendship he would have him bear to the Republick he gave him a Roman name and because he was brought up in the Martian Family illustrious among the Patricians and derived from the famous Coriolanus whose valour survived him in so glorious a reputation he would have the young Prince called by his name that the appellation of Juba which sounded harsh and barbarous to a Roman ear might be covered with that of Coriolanus In all likelyhood the affection and bounty of that great Dictator would not here have stopped and doubtless the Prince had gathered the fruits of those promises if Death had not robbed him of that Protector or rather that Father before he attained to his fourth year an age that hardly rendered him capable to dream of those hopes were given him That man the greatest that ever liv'd was murder'd in the Senate-house by the ingrateful conspiracy of those that his own generosity and nobleness had rais'd from their knees all the world knew it self interessed in the loss of him who had made himself Master of it with his Sword yet held it in so gentle a subjection After Caesar's death the little Coriolanus for so was always called wanted no protection for the Senate succeeding Caesar in his Patronage took up that care of him which his death had let fall and trained him up with the Sons of divers Kings that were Friends and Alleys to Rome without making the least difference in their Expence or Equipage though their Fathers had still their Crowns in possession Divers children of noble Exteaction and an equal age descended from the families of Roman Knights were placed in his Service of which number I was appointed one and as I was always brought up near his person so his affection did me the honour to take me nearest to his heart During those cruel and dismal disorders of my Country that bloody Civil War which revenge kindled for Caesars murder the prodigious effects of that horrible Triumvirat which overflowed Rome with the blood of her noblest Citizens and that famous contest betwixt Antony and Octavius Coesar the young Prince grew up with a success miraculous Never did Eye behold a youth of those years handle his Arms with so great a grace or perform any Bodily Exercise his Tutors taught him with a dexterity comparable to his his propension led him with so much advantage to the study of Sciences as he became so learnedly vers'd in Astrology and Philosophy so critically skilled in all kind of History as the World could scarce afford another to match him and for Eloquence that famous Orator that lost his life in the heat of the Triumvirat by the cruel command of Antony could hardly challenge preheminence nor had he qualities disproportioned to these rare endowments of body and mind so that
the sole assistance of an unbyass'd reason Dost thou not know replyed I that I was never prone to regard a person with any other interest than such an esteem as we all owe to vertue where ere we find it nay did my inclination place a particular value upon Cleomedon's person I would make it bow to that obedience is due to the King my Fathers will which shall ever be the rule of all my thoughts and I ought to judge them very Criminal should they dare to act by any other power than his commands I doubt not said Clitie but your intentions are the same you spake them but granting that I find no cause to disapprove my opinion The King your Father who has long since perceived Cleomedon's pretences would never have suffered or at least not favoured their progress as he has done had he thought that alliance deserved his rejection his behaviour in this affair might easily instruct you to believe that he had looked upon the prologue of his amorous designs with a serene aspect and finding in Cleomedon's person all that his wishes would contrive in that of a Prince whom his thoughts voted worthy of the honour of your Bed you need not doubt but he will prefer him before all his neighbour Princes on whom though Fortune possible to shew her blindness has bestowed some Crowns yet Heaven has neither given them a Birth so illustrious not a Vertue so eminent as its bounty has conferred on this brave Son of Caesar besides Madam you being his legitimate and only heir 't is vain to think he will fix his desires upon any addition to your grand inheritance and 't is the opinion of persons far more prudent and politick than I that he will rather fear than desire the alliance of a stranger King and deem it far more requisite to give a Prince intirely to his People than transport their subjection to a forreign Scepter When it once arrives at that point replyed I I can do no less than avow unto thee though possible not without a blush that I will receive Cleomedon from his hands with less repugnance than if he had rifled the whole stock of mankind for another choice and indeed I confess thou were not wholly deceived by thoughts that concluded me neither blind nor insensible to the merit of his person nor the proofs of his affection I had thus no sooner displaid my hidden thoughts when I beheld Caesario whose approach I then least expected enter the Arbour and throw himself at my feet with a face that boasted such a complement of joy and satisfaction as I timerously concluded he had heard all those words I so lately let fall to his advantage this called a fiery blush into my cheeks and I was at first surpris'd with so much shame as wanting the confidence to look him in the face I covered mine own with my hand on purpose to hide a part of my confusion the Prince who construed the cause of it right was ready to borrow repentance of his tender affection for the perplexity he had given me and left the excess of his joy corrected to a sober moderation by a belief that I was not satisfied with this passage however loath to forfeit so fair an occasion he began to rally his scattered spirits and imbracing my knees with a tender and yet a passionate ardour Madam said he do not grudge me the Fortune that Heaven has given me without your consent and be not troubled that I am indebted for a happiness to this encounter for which I might long have waited still the companion of my own woes before I had obtain'd it of your goodness Madam what I learn'd from your fair mouth has taught me to believe my self the happiest and the most glorious Prince in the world but all that you have said has given you no just cause of shame or repentance unless you draw it from the choice you have made of a man so unworthy of that precious priviledge you have given him in your breast your intentions are so nicely wrapt within the strict rules of Duty and Vertue as when the King your Father though advis'd by the severest persons upon Earth shall understand them they cannot scan this act with Justice and pass any thoughts upon it to your disadvantage for my self Madam I receive this knowledge with a respect so profound and so perfectly conform'd to the devout veneration I have for you as you shall ever find a greater encrease in my submissions to your will than in those hopes you permit me to conceive While he spake in this manner I recover'd some confidence to disparkle the astonishment had seiz'd me and whether my opinion of his discretion or the Innocence of my intentions pleaded best to my self in my own behalf in effect I was prompted to believe I had not lavish'd any language that left such a spot upon me as shame first taught me to imagine with this perswasion taking my hand from my face and licensing my Eye to regard him with more assurance than before How Cleomedon said I are these the proofs of your respect do you think you have not forgotten what you owe me thus by an ambush to intrap my secrets before you knew how I would relish or receive the freedom I had rather dye answer'd Cleomedon than give you any just cause of displeasure but if you find it in this encounter believe it Madam it was only accident and not design that plotted the offence Let it be design or hazard reply'd I I do not think you can construe my words to that advantage you pretend nor can believe you could find out reason enough to beget a doubt of my obedience which was ever taught to bow it self to the Kings command nor of that desire which I ever tenderly preserv'd of a total submission to his will not only in what regards the great sacrifice to Hymen but the entire disposal of all my actions so long as the thred of my life is uncut No Madam reply'd Caesario I never doubted it but I was uncertain whether your inclination would declare with your obedience in my behalf and prevail to let affection go a share in that which Duty has only power to exact at your hands 't is that Madam is the basis on which I build all my glory and if I may have leave to mingle a litttle Interest with it will say that if my opinion does not abuse me your own inclinations will have all the power to compleat our destiny since the Kings have ever so tenderly comply'd with yours as they can never permit him to offer any force in the choice of a Husband I confess my hopes look the same way said I and since though against my will you have gotten so large an acquaintance in my thoughts upon the confidence I repose in your vertue and the respect which can never give you leave to abuse that intelligence you have got in the breast of a
extraordinary motion how to cut off all those weaknesses from my life that have thus encourag'd you to offend me and if that fails to reduce you to your duty I 'le trie whether that excess of favour the King your Masters bounty does allow you will prove too strong for his affection to his Daughter Tiribasus who had already foreseen how his first answer would be received was but little astonish'd at this angry repulse and having hardened his resolution to stand the first shock with an undaunted obstinacy he was preparing to reply when turning his head he perceived the company so near us as he durst not pursue his design for fear of over-hearers this made him change the subject and find out some other discourse to entertain me but I was so stung with that he had already as I vouchsafed not so much as one single word to all that he spake besides From that day I began to hate him heartily though till then I had found out nothing in his person that I could justly say was odious but my belief that the pride of his heart which sprung from the Kings indulgence had rais'd him the confidence to lay his passion so naked provoked me more fiercely against him than I should have been to other persons though they had been his inferiors He thinks said I that without raising himself he may lawfully flie his aspiring pretences at the Daughter of his King and by the help of that insolence to which his Masters unmerited smiles have transported him he does doubtless imagine that he can love nothing below me without offending his upstart honour but I 'le take care to cure him of that Errour if he still continues to shew me the Symptoms and possibly throw him as much beneath his present condition as his effronted ambition would raise him above it In the mean time he took no despair from this first repulse I had given him and if he cunningly kept his passion under hatches to the whole Court he lost no occasion wherein he might shew it to me in particular I carefully avoided all those that might probably betray me to a second surprizal by him in private and instructed all my actions to assure him that the farther he step'd in pursuit of his ambitious flames the deeper he engag'd himself in my mortal hatred all the reflections I could make upon it still added fresh fuel to the flame of my choler and being born to so lofty a Courage as could hardly judge the Son of Caesar worthy to serve me I could not suffer the thought that one of my Father's and a man that was no Prince should openly presume to discourse me his affection without letting my self be carried with impatience to the extreams of a hatred against him I had no power to preserve the truth of this accident in disguise from Caesario and his Jealousie which was started up to a strange height in the very day of it's birth made him receive this intelligence so impatiently as had I consented to loosen the Rains which I ever kept upon his will he would have doubtless endeavoured to punish the presumption with too loud a fury which my own quality and credit obliged me to hide from the whole world but my commands by the Authority he had given me in his heart held him back so strictly from any angry attempt upon his Rival as he durst not suffer the least sign to appear in any of his actions that he knew it Tiribasus often laid wait in vain for an occasion that might help him to the privacy of a second parly but I still countermined his cunning so carefully as in more than three months time he never lighted upon the liberty to speak with me but still some company were by to intercept him which I suppose gave him a resolution to turn the course of his design another way and refer that to the mediation of time and the lucky emergencies of some future occasions which as his condition was then stated he had little hope to obtain In pursuit of this resolve he waited one day as he had often done at several other times at the foot of those stairs that lead to my lodging upon the point of my return from the City and advancing with a number of Courtiers that fawn'd upon his fortune to the boot of my Chariot he offered me his hand to help me out and lead me up the stairs what ever repugnance I had to receive that office at his hands I could not handsomely refuse him in the presence of so many witnesses besides perceiving the King with his face towards me looking out of a window and my Esquire being respectively retired to give him that honour of precedency I found my self oblidged to lend him a hand and being descended from the Chariot I began to mount the stairs with him Tiribasus turning his eyes round to see if any followed us neer and perceiving Respect had kept all those that came after at a becoming distance Madam said he letting fall his voice as low as it might well be understood had I been born among the Enemies of your Royal house and with a Native Enimity hatched designs against the Interest of your Estates and the King your Fathers Service you could not employ a more scornful care to flie and avoid me than we have done already the reason replyed I interrupting him is easily apprehended since if you had facted all that you have urged for the causes of aversion your offence had been short of that which your tongues indiscretion did so lately betray I did not think replyed Tyribasus that any construction could draw the proofs of an obsequious and respective possion within the number of offences and if we flie from those that love us me-thinks we should seek out punishments for those that do not so Tyribasus said I to evade Discourses of this nature is the reason that I seek to escape you as I would do Plagues or Death and if ever you adventure again to offend me with the like I 'le tell your story to the King in such a manner as all the interest and affection you have in him perhaps may prove too weak to defend you from his indignation No Madam answered Tiribasus with a serious and compos'd action do not accuse me to the King if you please for a fault my fate inforced me to commit which I am resolved shall no more be repeated since you forbid it if there be a possibility to avoid it I would neither displease the King my Master nor my Soveraign Princess and if I cannot suddenly exile the unlucky passion from my heart which has rendered me worthy of your anger at least I will take such care to govern and correct it as it shall never noise it self any more in your ears nor make a second purchase of your displeasure As he finished these words he found himself neer my chamber door and without staying for an answer he made
entire confidence and an absolute power to the disposal and management of his care If Tyribasus by the cunning continuance of his dissimulation had not already strangled all the suspicions I had of him I had opposed all my power against that absolute Authority the King left him and Cleomedon would never have suffered me to stay under the guard of a person so suspected but in all his actions both before his Nubian expedition in his departure and at his return he treated me with a coldness so incompatible with affection as I easily believed there was not so much as one single root of it left alive in his Spirit The King having left this order at Meroe disposed himself to depart with Caesario in his company whom neither he nor I were then any longer willing to detain from the war not that his absence since I lov'd him as dearly as decency would allow did not deeply perplex me but seeing the King my Father was going to expose his own person to the hazards of the War I thought I should sin too much against Caesario's vertue to keep the passage ' gainst him in his way to glory or detain him with me where now he could not stay with any safety to his credit he wasted divers whole days in the repetition of his passionate adiews and if he made me a thousand vows of preserving an invincible and immortal fidelity I requited him with a thousand assurances that I would ever prefer him till death divorced us before all the rest of mankind The day of that cruel separation being arrived I took leave of the King and Cleomedon of me with all the sincerity and tenderest proofs that were ever exprest by affection and the parting with both assaulted my Soul in several places with a grief so violent as receiving the Kings last embraces I was like to fall at his feet in a swoond timerously gathering an unlucky Augury from the exquisite sense of those redoublings of affection the King who perceiving it endeavoured to sweeten my apprehensions with some comfortable words but they were not strong enough to put my griefs to flight nor banish those prophetick fears from my Soul which staid there by the Authority not only of known but undiscovered causes Cleomedon gave me the first adiew and perceiving the rest of the company while he was taking his leave to be all so busied about the King as none were near enough to over-hear him It 's impossible Madam said he I should carry my self away from your presence without a torment too violent for my face to dissemble but I will learn to cashier a large part of my woes if your compassion gives comfort and allows me to hope that neither time absence nor any of those accidents that may cross our Fortune shall ever have power to exercise your tyranny upon that priviledge I hold of your bounty For that said I you have my promise and shall ever know me as inviolable in the observance of it as I hope to find you Loyal and Religious in performing the Vows you have made That confidence said he creates me happiness that infinitely transcends my merit and I hope to carry your beautiful Image into places where it must infallibly gather the bays of a glorious victory I cannot borrow meaner hopes said I from my opinion of valour but among all those dangers you intend to brave do not tye your self so strictly to the thoughts that you are Caesar 's Son to forget the propriety Candace has in you After these words he kissed my hand and having taken his last leave he left me to the King who came with open arms to bid me farewel I had a face overflow'd with tears which might well fetch their pedigree in the common opinion from no other fountain than the Kings departure and those that stole into the flood for Cleomedon's sake ran along with the rest as if they had started from the same source though if I may say it without offending the Laws of a filial piety they out-swelled the rest in number I saw them both mount their horses and really Cleomedon for in that my opinion was the legitimate child of truth and no Way led astray by the Bias of affection appeared in a posture so Heroick as might kindle envy even in those souls to whom nature had lavished the greatest advantages He was that day covered with arms that were rather designed for Parade than service and that was the first time the Roman Eagle was seen to display her wings and proudly erect her two heads amidst the Gold and Jewels that adorned his Casque and Shield Near the imperial Eagle appeared a young one that with a bold wing and open eyes seemed to strain his pinions against the Sun to prove his descent legitimate with these words The worthy Son of such a Father Caesario had only added the Eaglet and Motto to the ancient devise having received those fair Arms at his departure from Alexandria as a gift from the Queen his Mother in whose custody they were left by Julius Caesar after they had faithfully served him in most of those dangerous battels that got him the greatest name among men Under these beautiful Arms the young Warrior advantagiously mounted appeared so fierce and yet so noble as endeared him to the affection and respect of every soul that beheld him but I doat too much upon his Description and indeed Madam to comprehend it right 't is but fit his Pourtraiture should be limned as well to the life in your imagination as my heart has drawn it upon it self This young Heroe marching by the Kings side and circled with the general applause of all the Ethiopians went out of the City and left me half busied in a cloud of sad and fearful apprehensions behind him Tyribasus whom the Physitians had forbidden to ride staid some time with me in the City and implored a great part of it in striving to confute and divert my melancholly thoughts with a face so seriously honest that none could ever think it belonged to a man that was linked to any other interest than the service of his Master I did not then refuse his Converse in which he was so far from uttering a word as he did not so much as mingle one look of love and I was grown so confident in a blind opinion that he had totally disbanded all his passionate follies that displeased me as I began to interess my self in the return of his health and was glad to see his colour and strength coming to their usual vivacity In the mean time you need not doubt but my thoughts were entirely tyed to the remembrance of what I loved and if I sent any vows to Heaven for the King my Fathers safety you will easily believe I forgot not to mention Caesario's whose image was pourtraid so lively in my heart by the innocent skill of a chast affection as the vast distance betwixt us was utterly
uncapable to blot or blemish it There were few hours in the day that I did not dedicate to his memory and few days wherein I did not often tremble at the thoughts of those dangers he was going to encounter when I chanced to hear those that returned with Tyribasus discourse of the Nubians valour and their Commanders gallantry Ah! they are too too valiant would I say for my dear Caesar and their merciless Swords will possible divide the thread of his life with which mine is inseparably twisted I had more reason to credit my fears for him than the King well knowing that his boiling youth would hurry him to a precipice of perils to which the solidity of my Fathers maturer age and the care that guarded his Office would rarely expose him I unladed all my thoughts of this alliance into the breasts of Clitie who was still the partner of my solitary walks both in the Gardens and other parts of the Island that were fittest to flatter melancholly where we still entertained the time with discoursing upon the subject of my apprehensions but we were often interrupted by Tyribasus who cunningly forbearing such language as might probably unrake the Embers of his passion did yet strive with an active industry to prefer himself to some credit in my thoughts and eagerly fastned his endeavours upon every occasion that might give me a good opinion of his person and advertise my apprehension how much he had obliged me And it is time to leave talking of my self and acquaint you how our Warriours behaved themselves in Nubia which I intend as succinctly as possible as well because the sex excuses my ignorance in military matters as that I am loath with a long discourse to be uncivil with your patience Before the King set forward in person he had sent 30000 Horse and 50000 Foot upon their march towards Nubia raised out of those Provinces that were adjacent to Meroe as the Troglodites Attatales Memnonians and divers others which after in a few days journey he had overtaken and Randezvouz'd he marched at their head against the Nubians who having defeated those Reliques of a shattered Army that Tiribasus had left in their Country proudly crested with success had already left their own limits behind them and begun to wave their Ensigns upon our Territories At first Caesario excusing his refusal of Command with the incapacity of his youth would needs combat without any charge but at those first encounters that offered him occasion to signalize himself the King perceiving that with his admirable valour there was linked a prudence little short of his sagest and most experienced Captains would needs without admitting any more of his modest denials inforce the command of his Vauntguard upon him and was infinitely pleased to see him daily draw out Parties from the Troops of his Cavalry and charge others that were sent out by the Enemy so bravely as he still brought away most remarkable advantages all those that saw him sight spread reports of his valour that posed the belief of the rest that had not yet beheld it and the meanest Elogie they could give him was that he broke through the ranks of his Enemies like a whirlwind with a brave disdain of danger darted himself into the thickest throngs throwing down all that opposed his passage and that he alone by the prodigious effects of his valour and the example he gave to those few that followed him often routed whole Squadrons The King who daily saw him come home charged with the spoil and covered with the blood of his Enemies grew inflamed with love and wonder at his incomparable gallantry which hastned the compleating of those designs he had long been framing to his advantage thus they wasted more than three months in Facings and Skirmishes before they could draw the Enemy to a general battel their Commander who was wise as well as valiant considering he was then in an Enemies Country prudently concluded he could not hazard a deciding blow without venturing more upon the game than we besides he had a hope by his temporising delays while he still inforced his own by continual supplies to destroy our Army by a lingring disease still charging our Troop when any advantage invited either in straits or difficult passes yet at last marching up to a place that the King had besieged with intent to put in a supply of men he was insensibly engaged to a Combat though the greater part of both Armies struck not a blow and in fine the victory declared for us by the loss of more than 15000 of his men The King presently sent us this news to Meroe and I received by the same person that brought it who was one of Cleomedon's servants two letters together that were both infinitely welcome my memory has lost the words but if that which came from the King was stufft with Cleomedon's praises to whom he almost attributed all the glory of the victory the other that spoke from Caesario's hand contained nothing but deep vows put into very passionate terms of an immortal fidelity he since sent me divers others by which he powerfully confirmed himself in the possession of my heart nor did I make any scruple to assure him of it by two of mine which encouraged by a confidence that the King would not take it ill I adventured to write to him After this advantage our Army had gotten Evander taking advice of necessity retired a little and gave the King liberty to sit down before divers places that stood in his way which because they had to time to fortifie themselves were easily carried but in that interim there passed many memorable encounters of which I still received a clear account by divers letters from Cleomedon But why should I longer defer the sad recital of my misfortune since my relation cannot pass to a period without touching that by the way what pleasure can I take to retard it Six full months were already run through the glass of time since the King entered Nubia and our Army had already cut off in divers Combats above 40000 of the Rebels and lost at least half that number of our own men when about three days journey from Tenopsis the Metropolis of Nubia upon the banks of Nilus that travels with his silver streams through that Country as well a Ethiopia Evander having reinforced his Army with very numerous supplies presented him battel The King though his forces were far short of the Enemies number accepted the offer and drawing up his Squadrons into the form that he judged most advantagious he resolved to lead them on to the Combat in his own person though much against the mind of Cleomedon and the advice of all those whose loyal care kept a strict Centinel upon his safety never was there seen as I heard from very intelligent persons in the trade of war a more beautiful order observed in the ranking of men on both sides nor ever did two Armies
my Son since I have nothing more pretious to bestow upon thee Cleomedon putting one knee to the ground took the Kings hand and kissed it but he had not the power to bring forth one single word and the King after a few other short breathed Discourses wherein among other things he commended Tiribasus to him as a man very capable of State-employment his Spirits wasted themselves by degrees to that low Ebb as in fine he lost his speech and within an hour after his Life Pardon me Madam pursu'd Candace with a face cover'd with tears if I cannot pass this Tragick part of my story without paying this watry tribute demanded by Nature and reason to the memory of so sad a loss Madam I lost a Father to whom I was very dear and a Father whose vertues merited the esteem and love of all that knew him he remain'd cold and pale in Caesario's arms and that Prince whose former affection to Hidaspes as his Protector his Benefactor and the Father of Candace was passionately increas'd by his last scene of kindness after his death appear'd in a condition little differing from his as if one Soul had animated both their Bodies and the same time forsook and unfurnished her double mansion from this profound astonishment he succeeded to sighs and then by degrees found a tongue of his griefs which delivered themselves in such doleful accents as wrought as much pity from the company as the loss of their King that caus'd them All the credit that his Governour Eteocles had with him was then grown very necessary and after he had suffer'd him to wast that whole night in Sighs Tears and Plaints whereof I suppose you willing to bate me the recital he could find no other way to reduce him to himself than by presenting me to his memory that proved the strongest bridle to retire the overflowing of his woes and began to lead his thoughts aside from the loss to a reflection upon the Legacy the day following he grew more flexible to those reasons that assaulted his melancholly and at last knocking off the Manacles of his grief and restoring his courage to a perfect liberty which indeed as the general interest of Aethiopia was then tempered necessity enjoyned after he had caus'd the Kings body to be embalmed with an intent to lay him at Meroe with the Ashes of his Ancestors and remembring the Enemy was near by a general consent he took the command of the Army with a solemn Oath in presence of all the Officers that he would never turn his back upon Nubia till he had bath'd his revenge of their Kings death in whole Rivers of the Rebels blood This promise was fortunately followed by effect and the next day having taken a general Muster of his Army and finding it still consisted of more than 10000 Horse and 35000 Foot he put himself in the head of it and marched directly to Tenupsis whither the Enemies Army was newly retir'd It yet amounted to more than 50000 Combatants and their General Evander who had already been advertis'd of the Kings Death with which he fed the fairest hopes of his success and disdaining to fear a Man whose unpractised youth he condâ—ded incapable to manage so great a Command marched up to him with a confidence full of pride and offered him battel Caesario accepted this defiance with a fierce joy and actively appeared at the heal of his Troops in an Armour whose deep black represented the sadness of his Soâ—l though now half turned into a noble anger he led them on the Combat with such a daring and undaunted resolution animated the coldest courages with Examples so brave and beautiful and spy'd them out advantages by such a prudent and quick-sighted conduct as the victory long disputed by hot arguments on both sides listed her â—â— on our party but she came in Scarlet for the greedy fury both of General and Souldier still hunting for blood to quench the thirst of the revenge for the Kings death did that dâ— sacrifice to his Ghost above 40000 Nubians and compell'd the rest that escap'd the slaughter to seek their safety within the walls of Tenupsis which open'd its gates to favoâ—â— their retreat Three days after the victorious Cleomedon though he had taken some slight wounds â—â— the Battel sate down with his Army before it but because the City was strongly fortifiâ— and now defended by above 10000 Men it held his whole Army play for at least the Months time during which Evander who disdained to shut himself up within the walls of a Town dexterously posting in person from place to place where he had his greatest resources was grown as strong in number as before and had once more received a condition to spin on the War to a tedious length At last the besieged City was carried by Storm and all Cleomedon's authority could not hinder the Aethiopians from cutting the greatest part of the Souldiers that defended it in pieces and leaving very cruel marks of their vengeance in that desolate City After Tenupsis Cleomedon besieged it and with less pain took in divers other Cities that were seated upon the banks of Nilus and when he had totally ranged that Country under his obedience he advanced to meet Evander who once more desirous to try his Fortune came up the third time to give him battel Caesario proved again victorious and not to amplifie my story with needless circumstances or over-lade this relation with things that pass my experience in one years time which he spent in recovering Nubia he defeated the Enemies in five signal Battels took ten or twelve of their Cities by force reduc'd all the rest by the terrour of his Arms and for a conclusion of his glorious exploit accepting a defiance from Evander now brought to the brink of his last extremity that challenged him to a single Combat he fought with him in view of both Armies bravely slew him upon the spot and by his death cut up the last root of that Rebellion I have suffered my contracted recital to go down the stream of Cleomedon's actions without touching some other things that pass'd in the interim of much greater concernment to my self than any I have yet mentioned but I trac'd these passages as far as they would reach that I might not distract the method of my story and now I shall step back to some accidents that befel my self whereof the recital will doubtless be less offensive than my late discourse of War which yet I drew within as narrow a compass as my skill would give leave Think it not possible Madam reply'd the Princess Elisa that I can tast any trouble in your narration you tell your story so gracefully and I already feel my self so deeply interessed both in what regards your own person and concerns the adventures of a Prince so accomplished as Caesario as it is only a divertisment of this nature that has power to conclude a short truce betwixt my griefs
and I. The Gods grant reply'd Candace embracing her you may receive as happy a release of all your sorrows as my wish can contrive for my own misfortune In the mean time since you have relished some pleasure in the beginning of my story I hope the part untold will much improve it because it contains adventures of more importance and much more worthy of your attention HYMENS PRAELUDIA OR Love's Master-Piece PART III. LIB II. ARGUMENT The politick practises of Tyribasus to play the double game of his Love and ambition He seizes the sinews of the Kingdom surprizes Meroe and secures Candace's person Caesario hastily advances with his thin Army to pluck the prey out of his hands defeats Antenor 's forces by the way and kills him Fights the gross body of Tyribasus Army with his handful of wounded men which is all cut off and himself after he had deeply hurt and unhors'd the Tyrant thrown to the ground among the dead The unhop'd intelligence of his miraculous escape stops the sourse of Candace 's tears for his loss by a secret combination he plots her liberty and the Tyrants ruine Surprizes the Pallace by night with 4000 Men and sends her down the Nilus to the City of Bassa She is taken in the way by the Pyrate Zenodorus Her strange delivery from the rage of his brutish lust by the successive assistance of Eteocles and Tyridates WHile Caesario reveng'd the King my Fathers death by spilling deluges of the Faithless Nubian's blood and by so many memorable victories was raising his renown to the highest sphere of Glory I staid at Meroe under the guard of Tyribasus and was long kept ignorant of my deplorable loss 't is true an extraordinary sadness that sat heavy upon my heart might well have hinted something to my fears but I still imputed all to the absence of what I lov'd and easily taught my self to believe that to be barred by so vast a distance from the company and comforts of a Father and a Lover was capable enough to wrap my Soul in the dull clouds of as deep a melancholly at first indeed I confess it was often intermitted by the frequent intelligence of their happy progress in the War nor could I receive young Caesar's letters or listen to the language of some that rung the report of his gallant actions through the City with a mean or trivial delight and yet that satisfaction was still subject to the checks of those continual fears that tendered his life and I never understood how bravely he had beat off the foregoing dangers without trembling at the thoughts of those that were were likely to follow At last necessity became my intelligencer of this fatal disaster and the arrival of the Kings body conducted with a solemn funeral pomp to Meroe left them no possibility to keep the mask any longer upon the face of truth Tyribasus whose authority allowed him the freest access to my person was he that first undertook to break the ice and acquaint me with it his recital of that lamentable Tragedy brought me to the saddest estate that any affliction of that nature was ever capable to reduce the weakest most womanish resistance besides the impressions of blood that still sink themselves very deep in a tender heart the memory of those particular indulgences and Caresses I receiv'd from the best Father in the world produc'd such doleful and almost deadly effects within me as begot a sad suspition in all those that came on purpose to bring me comfort that I would hardly be ever won to receive it complaints tears and sighs from which nothing was capable to divert me were the only company I was willing to keep and converse with for many whole dayes together and those that saw me assist at the Funeral obsequies of that great Prince with a face that gave colours of death law some reason for their fears that the Daughter would follow her Father too fast to the other world to charge the Court with a second mourning and yet I must avow that in my hottest fit of affliction I could not be insensible at a letter I receiv'd from Caesario since a sweeter Solace for my sorrows was wrap'd up in that papper than all other remedies were capable of giving it was put into my hands the next day after the Kings obsequies by a man of his whom he had commanded to stay the delivery till I had receiv'd the sad news from some other hand not willing that the first message of my misfortunes should come from him I read it so often over as my memory has kept the words ever since in the same order they were written and I think they were these or very little different Cleomedon to the Queen of Aethiopia MAdam the Gods have thought it fit to call away the King your Father from the society of men to shew them by your Example that even those persons that nearest approach their nature are not exempted from adversity and they permitted me not without the shame of surviving him to render you this feeble proof of the deep share I go in your affliction yet they are all my witnesses that if I had not endur'd my life for your sake I should scarce have suffer'd him to resign his Being from whom you had yours and dye alone without my attendance to the other world nor can I stay my thoughts upon the sad condition to which this deplorable news will bring you without relapsing into those woes that are little short of yours I dare not Madam dispute against the expence of some tears your piety will doubtless pay to so dear a loss which your interests here will not suffer me to come and wipe away before I have finished the sacrifice of that revenge I owe to my Masters Ghost and tam'd your disloyal people to an incapacity of raising new storms in the haven of your Government but my affection calls to your grief for a little moderation and alarms your High-born heart to arm it self in its own greatness for the encounter of these crosses that heaven prepar'd on purpose to try its Courage they are those that may raise you trophees upon fate it self who has only forc'd a misfortune to leap over some few years which at last you could never have avoided and they are only those if that consideration deserves the weighing that have power to appease the perturbations of a Spirit which must still be torn with mortal inquietudes so long as you are afflicted This letter did really sweeten my displeasures more than all the arguments of comfort could be rais'd by the whole company about me and since 't is but fit that I pass by those passionate and vain discourses which flow'd beyond all rule and measure from my head long grief I will refer them to the judgement of your excellent nature and only tell you that after I had render'd to the death and memory of my Father all that might
inferiour rank of mortals for the choice of a husband and though I were willing to lean to such low thoughts you know Tyribasus I could never justly act them since all the right I might have had in my own disposal was cut off by the Kings last will who nam'd the person at his death he had design'd to espouse me Tyribasus discovering much trouble at these words by the often changes of his colour When the King named you that husband said he by report of those that saw him he had lost the greatest part of his reason and I know you are too well advis'd to cast your eyes upon a man that is no better than a fugitive dispoil'd of goods friends revenue and all that should support him and one that could not have another Asylum in the whole world but what your Father gave him besides he is Caesars enemy to whom after the narrow escape of his pursuit by disguising his name and condition he will be no sooner known for what he is but he will draw the whole Roman Puissance upon himself and all those that support him his birth since we only take his own word for it is uncertain enough and suppose I grant him born of Caesar and Cleopatra I shall yet hold him inferior to the meanest Prince in the world if the issue of a lawful bed I was deeply incens'd at this rude language of Tyribasus in contempt of Caesario and had I let fall the reins of my resentment I had doubtless shown him the saucy and uncivil injurie he offered me at the perfect magnitude but I was fearful to exceed the decorum of modesty by patronizing what I lov'd with too much ardour and from that consideration not without using some violence to bind my spirit I was content to return him this answer The dying King declar'd no intention in Cleomedon's favour that the dimmest eye about him might not easily discover had been long designed in his perfect health and therefore it was rather an effect than a disease of his reason that made him publiquely avow that esteem at his death which had dwelt very long in his breast before his birth is such as he need not envy the highest extraction upon Earth if he be a fugitive despoil'd of goods and friends it is only the default of his fortune which yet he advantagiously repairs by his vertue and if Caesar still hunts his life we have power enough to oppose his persecution to which we are deeply obliged by the grandeur of his daily actions and the glorious victories he still stains for our service What Madam reply'd Tiribasus wholly transported is it then true that you prefer Cleomedon before so many considerable men among your Aethiopians that are a thousand time more capable to command them and more worthy to obey you than that stranger and where are those men reply'd I among the Aethiopians that are worthier to command than Caesario See Madam answer'd the audacious Tyribasus clapping his hand upon his breast Tiribasus alone not only by his vertue but all sorts of other advantages carries a better title than Caesario to every thing that may be call'd the reward of merit it is my love Madam and not my ambition that composes this language or if there be a little tincture of ambition in it it is only to possess Candace and not her Crown this passion that has so long been the Prisoner of my fear to displease you was never extinguished and if it once more adventures to break from its melancholly Cell and invade the light 't is because you have brought it to such extremities as it could no longer endure to be led in so short a chain while I thought it could not appear without the sin of offending you she never so much as help up her dejected head but now in avowing Cleomedon's you authorise her liberty and 't is from his fortune that he borrows her boldness if he be worthy to serve you I may challenge preheminence by the right of a thousand reasons known to the whole State and if the Aethiopians must submit to the dominion of one of us sure they will sooner chuse to obey one that was born in the bosom of their Country than put on the shameful yoak of him that is an alien He would doubtless have gone on in this peremptory language if grief and anger strained to their highest extream by his unparalleled rudeness had not provoked me thus to intercept him Insolent man said I darting a look at him compos'd of scorn and anger if my indulgence has fed thy pride so high to starve thy duty I will make thee know thou hast plaied the fool to abuse it and instead of making thy self a Soveraign to thy fellow-subjects thou shalt soon feel that thou art still my vassal I will never dispute reply'd Tyribasus the command you have over me but Cleomedon shall always find my pretences are neither inferior to his in power or merit I had certainly lost all thoughts of patience if after these audacious words he had stayed longer in my presence but willing to avoid the first bolts of my choler he withdrew himself without staying for an answer and left me liberty to converse with the anxious thoughts and digest the cholerick humour he had stirred within me I should find it a hard task to represent my self as my resentments had then render'd me and the agitations of grief and anger still kept so strong a pulse at my heart as made me that whole day incapable of any company Oh! how did I accuse the King my Fathers memory for lifting one of his Subjects to so prodigious a height as gave him commission to offend me with impunity what vain and airy inventions did my fancy frame to ruine the power of that man and stay the execution of his wicked inventions but alas which of these thoughts could lead me the way to a probability of prospering in such designs I then considered I was young a Maid and Queen to a People whose whole herd afforded not a Man that durst shock with Tyribasus puissance without the support and assistance of some faithful persons I found it impossible to shape any Engine or Enterprise against him nay had I encountred some loyalty among my own they would still have wanted strength to manage so haughty a design Only Cleomedon and he divided from me by the large Tract of Provinces betwixt us was the sole person upon whom I could fasten any rational hope of rescue for besides what the high reputation that his vertue his grand services and the King my Fathers last will had won him among the Aethiopians might promise me I expected all things from the greatness of his courage and I knew his proper interest would engage him to the conservation of what another would unjustly deprive him I resolved then to call him home from Nubia without considering how much his presence might still be necessary among those
faithless people from whom he had already gained three Battels and taken in a great part of their strongest Garrisons and without staying the result of a farther deliberation or asking the advice of any person I wrote to him in these terms Candace Queen of Aethiopia to Prince Cleomedon THE victory that inseparably waites upon your Sword to those places where occasion invites you to draw it cannot defend you at this distance from that injustice your Enemies and mine are plotting against you Tiribasus would rob you of what is due by the triple title of the Kings last will your services and my inclinations and I find my self too weak to resist a puissance he has injuriously wrested from me by usurpation Come away then my dear Caesario with all the Forces are left you to dispute pretences of more importance than the recovery of Nubia against Enemies more cruel than any you have there to encounter I had rather loose that part of my Dominion than prove a sad witness to the loss of those hopes you have just conceived of Candace's affection I trusted this Letter to the carriage of one of my own Servants whose fidelity I knew deserved no suspition but it never arrived at Cleomedon's hands and understood a long time after that not only my first messenger had been intercepted and imprisoned by Tiribasus but all the rest that I sent besides which denied me a possibility of receiving any news from Nubia In the mean time Tyribasus was not ready to improve these beginnings to a progress and since the last undisguising of his ayms pretermitted no occasion that might openly shew his designs and acquaint every common eye with his amorous addresses as if he had entered the lists of Love upon equal terms and borrowed his boldness from a parity of condition I had almost dyed with despight at his effrontrey and he no sooner opened his mouth to resolicite his suit but I still gave him a rude repulse in terms so sharp and galling as would have infallibly urged any spirit but his to have raised his Siege as doubtless himself had done if his Love and Ambition had not drawn in the same yoak and his desire of possessing me been freshly supplyed with new heats from his aspiring design to set a proud Crown upon his head One day offering me his hand to lead me to the Temple and perceiving that after a disdainful rejection of his I had taken my Squire I see my services said he are very distastful though I know no other reason than because they are offer'd with more zeal and ardour than all you receive beside from the rest of mankind and possible the same reason that your Majesty takes for a just incitement of your censure would prefer them to estimation and acceptance in another Spirit I should not refuse to receive them of you reply'd I as they are due from my Subject if you would only pay them upon that score but if they are brought to back any other ayms I know you not because you have forgot to know me as you ought It shall be the lesson of my whole life answered he to know you as my Soveraign Queen at whose feet my Soul lyes prostrate by the command of a double authority nor will I ever entertain one single wish to get a dispensation of that homage I here freely quit you reply'd I of all you owe me provided you will see me no more and 't is that Tyribasus the best and most agreeable service I shall ever receive at your hands Tyribasus perceiving I began to kindle at this discourse would press it no further but losing all hope in his designs to vanquish my aversions in these weapons he resolved to work his ends with ruder instruments than Love and Sweetness which he plainly saw had done him no service suspecting the prejudice Delay might produce and fearing that Cleomedon returning from Nubia and winning all the honest party to espouse his quarrel might give a dangerous shock to his ill-gotten authority he concluded from the arguments of an impulsive necessity to defer the blow no longer He was ready assured of all the strong places in the Kingdom to the command of which he had still observed the caution to prefer no others but such as were all at his own devotion the treasure was wholly in his hands or in those of his creatures and without his order neither Garrisons nor standing Troops could receive any payment he had so perfectly brought the Officers hearts with his liberalities that still came from my Coffers as they were all at his disposal and when he flew at the highest pitch of his Masters favour having made it his care to gain himself a popular esteem by procuring some royal grants that carried the face of a publick good he thrived so strangely by those sly insinuations as there were few persons among the Aethiopians and those of the best quality who because of their Birth and Vertue would not be corrupted by his Gifts and Flatteries that he had not engaged to favour his ambition besides finding a pretext of making grand Levies to send into Nubia where Cleomedon's forces by fighting so often were much enfeebled he had raised in divers parts of the Kingdom above six score thousand men which disposed into several bodies instead of marching towards Nubia he had lodged in Garrisons and caused them to be exactly paid by which mean he made himself sure of their hearts and held them readily disposed to act his commands without ballancing any thoughts upon the cause or quarrel These traiterous practises were not so secretly carried but I had notice of them from some that suspected his drift and still preserved his unpoisoned fidelity yet I found my condition too weak to countermine his plots besides I had cause to fear that if I first declared I should but spur him with a greater speed to his haughty Enterprize from which a little patience might possible divert him till Cleomedon's arrival in whom I had circled all my hopes But I received not one answer to all the letters I had written and then ignorant how the treachery of Tyribasus had used them I injustly accused my dear Caesario for taking so slight and supine a notice of my affairs and his own When Tyribasus had ripened all his Contrivances for the purpose he intended he resolved to stay the execution no longer and one morning before the birth of day there entered there by his Orders into Meroe at seven or eight several gates about 30000 Souldiers under the Command of his brother Antenor and two other of his friends and presently seized upon the cross ways the ends of streets and all other places that were most fortificable in the City to prevert or oppose the peoples rising if any such thing should happen The City was no sooner reduced to this condition when Tyribasus appeared in the streets with a throng at his heels of his chiefest Partisans whereof
and impetuous and this unexpected encounter struck him dumb for a season and set his thoughts on work to find out some other discourse than what he had premeditated to comfort me but I gave them no time to finish it and throwing a contemptuous look or two at him You have done a brave and gallant act said I in despoiling a young Princess and your lawful Queen committed to your guard by her Father your King and Master of her Crown and Liberty repaid that condence with a grand fidelity and made a geneous use of your Masters favour whose inconsiderable bounty raised your crawling fortunes to this proud height and greatness wherewith you have ruined his onely Daughter Tyribasus was deeper galled with shame at this calm reproach than if I had edged it with sharper language and more vehemence nor could he cover it so quaintly that it was not easily perceived by those were near him but as he had dexterously learned to remove all the opposition that shame or remorse could plant in the way to his ends he quickly recovered himself and regarding me with more assurance than the sense of his Crime might well have left him You have some cause to accuse me said he for countervening your inclinations and taking part with your Subjects to oppose your design in the choice of a Stranger whom you could not have married without the ruine of your people my endeavours are dedicated to the preservation and not the robbery of your birth-right and you have too long been mistress of my liberty for me to attempt any thing against yours You are still Queen of the Aethiopians and shall ever be so since Tyribasus will rather die than divorce you from that dignity But since necessity requires that a man should share it with you and with it obtain another a thousand times more desirable and as much more glorious you need not think it strange that the desire of acquiring you rather than that of reigning should wing my pursuit of a fortune in that Path where possibility was my guide after I had trod all others that did but lead me astray That fortune thou talkest of reply'd I half mad with spight is neither thine by birth nor merit since there is too much baseness in the one and too little worth in the other and should I ever prove so degenerate to think a subject might deserve my choice sure I should not lose so much as a glance upon him that seeks no other way to prefer himself but by violence and treason What ever thou dost by the licence of a vile usurpation neither thy plundered authority nor my weakness can disguise our conditions and in spight of both I shall always be the Queen and thou shalt ever be my Subject You should always have been my Queen replyed Tyribasus dissembling the pique he received at my words though Heaven had not given you a Crown and I should ever have been your Subject though the greatest Monarch upon Earth but in your Authority and my submission I shall not lose a grain of the glory I pretend to and when Time and Reason which I hope will quickly uncloud your Majesties eyes shall raise a power by degrees to dissipate your first resentments I know they must be succeeded by others of a gentler strain that will no longer suffer you to regard him as an Enemy a Traitor and Usurper that adores you with so powerful a passion and so perfect a respect and a man whose onely zeal for your interests has compelled him to displease you He had said more in his own desence if after commanding him to leave me to my repose I had not actually assured him by turning away to the other side that I was then resolved to exchange no more syllables with him He thought it not fit to importune me further and after he had strictly charged those persons about me to serve me with the same care and diligence as before he quitted the Chamber He still left me the whole Palace to my self with some shadow of respect and a guard for my person little different in number to those that formerly waited but they still followed me not so much for honour and defence as to abridge me of my liberty and though with their attendance I was allowed to visit any part of the City yet I never essayed to shew my self in publick but I still found all the passages stopped and the Gates shut upon me the sense of my captivity gall'd me more than the loss of my Kingdom but I endeavoured to support both with an invincible constancy till the hand of Heaven should set a date to my afflictions which I had little reason to hope from the help of a humane arm In the mean time Tyribasus appeared with all the displayed Ensigns of Royalty kept the same number of Guards and Officers about him that always belonged to the Kings of Aethiopia presided in State-affairs with an absolute authority and though he placed my name with his in such Dispatches and Commissions as carried the Royal signature yet I was never called to their Councils nor my consent or advice demanded in any affair of importance The Tyrant perplexed me with his daily visits and still discoursed me his passion I confess with little alteration of respect but he did so plague me with his own and the sollicitations of others to espouse him as his cruel persecution often drove me beyond the bounds of that moderation I had proposed to my self One day by an excessive redoubling these kind of torments he had put me past all my lessons of patience and after I had suffered him a while not without constraint to talk me his amorous trash Tyribasus said I hold your self to your first intention which is to Reign or to name it better to tyrannize over my Aethiopians and trouble your self no more with the other on which you would have never bestowed a thought if your ends had not led you to dress Ambition in the cloaths of Love had you loved the Person and not the Crown of Candace you would have sought out some other way to express it than by usurping her Estate and detaining her person in cruel captivity and if you cannot make that Crown sit sure upon your head without espousing the legitimate Heir know you shall never be lawful King of Aethiopia the shortest way for you had been to cut me off from the world and though I now knew you resolved to be my Executioner that full assurance could not render me more your Enemy than those hateful injuries you have already offered me He seldom got better language than this at my hands which yet he received with an unmoved aspect expressing by all his words and actions that he fixed his fairest hopes upon time for the change of my humour In the mean time I sighed away my sad hours in this deplorable Captivity while the King my neighbors my allies and most of them my
impossible to hate him A few daies after I began to perceive he regarded me with an eye no longer indifferent his words were ranged with more care and less confidence than before and in all his actions he essai'd to bespeak me an opinion that the world could not offer him an employment which was not less important and considerable in his thoughts than the pettiest occasion to serve and please me had I commented upon this carriage of his with interest my conjectures could not have missed the mark he aimed at but as I was then young and my spirit untrained to those discoveries and my thoughts prepossessed with the sense of our Captivity in which though sweetned with his civilities I could not chuse but taste the restraint I did not level my regards at a man so vastly below me to tie any particular remark upon his behaviour which in all probability would have made me flie his conversation One day he came into the Queen's Chamber and entertaining me while my Mother was busied about some dispatches she was to send to the King for that liberty was allowed her after the exchange of some other discourse that begun the Dialogue Madam said she you would have great cause to hate me if I did not strive with all the strength of industry to remove it and to the prejudice of what my honour excepted is the dearest thing in the world to my wishes I did not endeavour to give you some service which you could never receive by the single suffrage of my will if that pretious liberty which for my misfortune more than yours our success in war has ravished from you depended upon my resignation it would not remain so long in anothers custody as that He stopt short at these words and confessed by a change of a look a confusion in his thoughts which I was then too innocent to observe though I had better intelligence from some reflections since upon that passage and after some moments of silence recovering his speech I say Madam pursued he had it been in my power to finish this restraint of yours that throws me at the feet of your mercy for a gentle construction the very same day I was so unlucky to begin it you should not now regard me as the man that has done you the rudest injury but as he that would gladly sprinkle the purest bloud about his heart upon your Altar to expiate his crime It is my misfortune that I cannot crave that liberty to my self without deceiving a Master to whom I owe all and betraying the trust he has deposited in me beyond the just claim of my deserts nor would those Forces that obey me by his order do less than openly oppose a design of that nature and in fine Madam my thoughts can plot no safer contrivance to release you from this estate which I cannot look upon without sighs and blushes than the same I had chosen to serve you I was glad to hear these words that put me in some hope of liberty and regarding Artaban with an aspect that told him as much And upon what projection said I have you fastened to restore us our freedom have you sent propositions to the King my Father and does he offer Provinces or Treasures for the price of our liberties No Madam replyed Artaban I shall only direct my addresses to the King my Master and 't is from the affection he bears me and that promised recompence which his goodness deems a just debt to the services I have done him that I derive a hope of means to release you vouchsafe Madam if you please pursued he drawing out a letter from his pocket and presenting it open to my hands to read here what he has done me the honour to write me and Judge if this bounty does not justly embolden me to demand something of a grand value at his royal hands At these words he gave me the letter wherein I read what follows Tigranes King of the Medes to the invincible Artaban I Should be the most ingrateful of Princes should I withold the confession that I owe you all and I do not debase my dignity in publishing that I hold my Crown of you since your admirable valour catched it when it was falling from my head and replanted it there by the entire ruine of mine Enemies I see the bounty of Heaven that presented you to me as the tutelary Demon of Media still showers the same success upon you in the Parthians Country as when you first beat them from our thresholds and it is now groundless hope that bids me expect a more puissant Crown from your victorious Sword than my Predecessors left me But dear Artaban what can I do to be quit with your deserts and what reward will be high enough to measure with your services With a part of those Territories your invincible arm has restored me demand something else that carries a greater value and though your desires include a large share of my proper blood do not feat the refusal of a King whom the unparallel'd effects of your vertue has rendered inviolably yours I avow said I to Artaban after I had read this letter that the Median King does ingenuously acknowledge what he owes you yet I must say too there was little reason he should have spoke less to that purpose and should he stick at the price of any recompence he would prove himself unworthy of those important services you have done him Would to Heavens replyed Artaban with a sigh that all persons to whom I have vowed service would accept and own it as your judgement directs them and that you your self when I shall once be so happy to make good my intentions would suit your resentments to your own language You would wrong us to doubt replyed I that either the Queen or my self do not think our selves highly obliged to your noble offices or shall ever be tardy in her wills to express though at the rate of something that is dearest that our apprehensions are neither slow nor insensible to your generosity No Madam added he in lieu of those promises you offer so freely I expect a loss that in all appearance my whole life will hardly repair however that cold fear shall not pass my design to please you and in a few daies you shall know what I shall be able to do for your service He then said no more being obliged to join with the Queen who had newly finished her dispatches and begin another discourse After his departure I acquainted the Queen with the hopes he had given me and as she had cause to credit the parole of so brave a man she began to take out some lessons of comfort from the opinion of his vertue and solemnly wait the effects of promise Nor did our expectations abuse us and since I cannot be civil with your patience unless I abridge a discourse that if I untwisted every particular would reach â—o an insufferable length be pleased
to know that a few dayes after Artaban entred the Queens Chamber with the Characters of a grand satisfaction in his face though a little interlin'd with some petty displeasure and when he had accosted us Madam said he to the Queen I am come to tender the performance of a Promise that I lately passed to the Princess your Daughter and to let you know that I am now the happy Master of some power to serve you vouchsafe pursued he presenting a letter to the Queen to peruse this Commission I lately received from the King my Master The Queen took the letter from his hands and having opened it read these words Tigranes King of the Medes to General Artaban I Am ashamed my dear Artaban you should undervalue the meed of your inestimable valour at the poor price of two womens ransom and I wish with passion your demand had taken a larger compasse and included a part of my Province Time will not be much older before I shall see you upon the Theatre of your conquest where I intend to wrangle with your modesty for the offence it hath given to my affection In the mean time dispose of these two Princesses of all the Booty and Prisoners that are in your hands with an absolue authority This is my earnest desire and when I come I shall complain of your nicety if I find you have scrupled to perform it The Queen was infinitely pleased in reading this letter and not able to dissemble it I never doubted said she to Artaban that the Median King could stumble at the desires of a man to whose Heroick acts he owes the preservation of his own and the advantage he has gotten upon our territories had the King my Husband so brave a Servant as Artaban I am confident he would think all the riches and honour in his power to cheap to reward him I see our liberty is an entire dependent upon your will and though your deportment has infinitely sweetned the losse of it the desire to unte riestraint is so natural especially in persons of our sex and rank as I hope you will not think it strange if we ask it of you offering such a price to redeem it as your estimation shall appoint Would I set your liberties to sale reply'd Artaban the King your Husbands Crown were too little to pay the ransom but Madam I do not value the possession of provinces at that hight to compare with the glory I shal reap in rendring you a service that may in some manner repair the displeasures you have received by our arms Madam you are free your liberty had the same date with my power to pronounce it and you are in Suit of a ransom which you cannot offer again without disobliging a man to whom if Heaven has not given the birth of a Prince perhaps it has not refused the courage There 's none can raise a doubt against it reply'd the Queen tenderly touched with a graceful wonder at Artaban's nobleness and if the Gods have not yet reached a Scepter to your hands they have given you a vertue preferrable to the Roman Empire we do not blush to receive the gift you offer us from so great a man and our judgements shall take advice from the vast difference betwixthim and others to shape our recompence well by the model of his vertue as his obligation I shall only desire reply'd Artaban three three daies more of your Majesties residence in the City a space required by necessity for the preparation of an equipage worthy to attend you and not irrequisite to lengthen the comfort of a man who to serve you does possibly divorce his eyes from their dearest object for ever While he was uttering these words I perceived his face was suddenly overcast with the cloud of grief but I then only apprehended it as a Character of his excellent nature and the Queen deceived as well as I with the same opinion only suffered it to improve her estimation and augment her acknowledgment of his goodnesse We prepared for our departure with a great deal of contentment but the Gods otherwise disposed of our affairs and for the first Remora to retard our wishes the next morning my Mother was arrested with a furious Feaver the following daies it successively encreased with much violence and in a few others grew enraged to such a height as shewed an paparent danger of her life I will not sad you Madam with the recital of my grief nor repeat the regrets I uttered to see her so cruelly handled by her malady at that point of time when her health was so necessary I stirred not from her pillow where the tender affection due to so dear a Mother almost melted me into tears for her danger Artaban whose affliction appeared little short of mine forgot not to urge every shadow of a reason that might contribute to my comfort and caused the Queen to be served with as specious a care as if she had been in Phraates Palace The King my Father with Artaban's permission often sent to understand her condition and I wrote him a perfect account of all the passages and gave him every single particular how the generous Artaban had obliged us In the mean time Heaven was pleased to take away all the danger but her half conquered malady proved so obstinate a resistance of nature as it cost her more than fifteen daies after the Feaver had left her before she could recover strength enough to quit her bed When my fears were once over-blown Artaban resumed his usual parley with more facility than when my grief forbad that freedom but he still framed his discourses to such a fashion as I perceived he eclipsed part of his thoughts and was forced to do violence upon himself to keep his heart from his tongue I then began to entertain some little suspitions of the truth but the fresh sense of our obligation to that man made me flie all occasions to confirm them for fear of learning something that might urge me to treat him with an uneven brow and indeed himself sought them so coldly as I found no necessity to disfigure the face of my behaviour towards him At last the Queens approaches to health renewed the assurance of our departure but our destiny disposed it so that the same day she left her bed Artaban received intelligence that Tigranes was upon his march to the City with fresh supplies for his Army and three or four daies after we saw him arrived with a pompous and magnificent equipage I know not what Prophetick Demon taught us to look upon his coming at a point of time as an unlucky Omen but the Queen was troubled at it and Artaban himself though his Master received him with all the caresses that his service and deserts could teach him to expect appeared but little satisfied However we disposed our selves to receive him as became us and his visit was no longer deferred than till the second day after his
not unuseful to your family but since it is become Criminal in your thoughts and every day increases the guilt I will henceforth combat as one that hath nothing to lose that is dear unto you and try to wash away with blood the offence I have committed since there is no other way to take our the stain may the Gods favour me so much as to make that reparation great enough to appease your anger and I call them all to witness that I will think my self gloriously rewarded for all the publick and particular services I have rendered you if you will only let me carry the satisfaction to my tomb that you did not hate me No Artaban said I when I came to the period of these words I do not hate you I scarce uttered this before Urinoe when she saw the marks of Shame and Confusion start into my visage I had not only called back my words if it had been possible but even those very thoughts that hatched them but I knew 't was vanity to hope it and Urinoe gladly taking advantage of the compassion and tenderness that my weakness betrayed for the sufferings of Artaban passionately pressed me for answer to his Letter she pursued my flying denials all that day without overtaking them but the following she continued the chase so hotly as at last I was wearied to a yielding a long luctation with my self before I could vanquish my repugnance to an action which my reason told me deserved a severe censure but in fine as if I had suborn'd reason to excuse desire at last I believed I had found a way to reconcile my scruples to Urinoe's will and my own inclination and I thought I had so nicely studyed my reply as might pose a Stoick to fasten a just censure or Artaban any advantage upon them at last after a tedious choice and rejection of words I made my paper speak in these terms The Princess Elisa to Artaban I Should sin against my quality thus by exchanging paper if a just motive did not oblige me and I thought not in Conscience whatever that action amounts to is due to the Deserts of your services Heaven is my witness that before your offence was committed my estimation bating those persons that gave me being bestowed not a larger share of it self upon any person on earth than Artaban nor should I have put a shorter date of those resentments than my proper life if the Cognizance of yours had not cancell'd them I am sorry to tell you that your actions oblige me to hate you against my inclination I neither misprize your person nor set too cheap a rate upon your vertue and I could spend some wishes those not faint ones that it were parallel'd by all those requisites that might Authorize your ambition but since the Gods refused you that favour learn to stoop the soarings of your Courage to the humble pitch of your Fortunes and appease my just displeasure by removing the cause of it I was very well pleased with the success of my invention as my ignorance then styl'd it and I thought I had woven my words with skill enough to secure my reputation but I had not examined them so strictly to suspèct the satisfaction they gave to Artaban who found it by a more cuning construction than I thought they would have born In effect he discovered which way my inclination bent it self through the Cobweb disguise of my expressions which augmented his boldness and raised his heart to such hopes as I did not think I had given him when he received it he was already gotten within the walls of Praaspa and his word had then so little work to make himself absolute master of Media as in less than too months time he finished the entire subjection of that large Kingdom to the Parthian Scepter In the mean time the infortunate Tigranes was retired to the King of Cappadocia and Cilicia his Allies whom he endeavoured to arm for his Interests That miserable Prince then felt by a sad experience how deeply the Gods tasted ingratitude and how unjustly we suffer Pride the bastard of Prosperity to cancel the memory of a benefit While he solicites his friends assistance to re-seat him in the Throne of his Ancestors Artaban who had made an entire conquest of his Country received the Oath of Allegiance in Phraates name of all those whose losses had enlarged his Soveraignty placed Garrisons in the most considerable Cities and ordered all things else as discretion and necessity decreed it He then saw himself gloriously acquitted of his promise and began not without the appearance of reason to fortifie the hopes he had conceived the King my Father who yet kept it living in his thoughts that he was reduable to his valour for a puissant Kingdom was grown very studious of his own power though I think in vain to find whether it had a reward within its reach that might measure with his services he was very willing to escape the guilt of a sluggish acknowledgement and whether he fear'd his great Authority among the Medes or was really desirous to see him he invited him home to his Court in the most honourable manner that gratitude could invent I remember the Letter he wrote him spoke much to this purpose Phraates King of Parthia to Artaban I Am double indebted to your valour for the conquest of a puissant Kingdom and the conservation of that which is my birth right and by the sole vertue of your invincible arm I reign over the Medes and Parthians but neither of these Crowns can give me any true tast of happiness without you and I can never think the authority truly mine till you have a share of it come a way then my dear Artaban to receive the recompence I have prepared you 't is true I possess nothing that is not below your merit but I pretend to go as far in requital as the dearest and most precious things I have in the world will carry me Artaban received this Letter with a grand satisfaction and though he had a near guess at the Kings intention who was really jealous of his power among the Medes the passionate desire he had to see me only lent him leisure to despise that consideration as possible it would have taught him to trample upon all others that might have offered him cause of discontent At length he began to think as we are all too prone to flatter our selves with the fruits of our own wishes that the King in his promise of the dearest and most precious thing he had in the World could mean no other than his Daughter and curiously poising the weight and worth of his services he found them tall enough to over-top all other rewards but that fraught with these hopes he compleated his Garrisons in places of most importance and leaving the command to him that he thought was worthiest he left Media behind him only with such troops as were necessary to guard his
and that once obtained the conquest of my obstinacy will not cost you much trouble I know not what rash fit of folly wrested these inconsiderate words from my mouth I know they were followed at the heels by shame and repentance nor did the artificial darkness cover my confusion from Artaban who a little in pain to see it fell once more at my feet and kissing them with a transport of joy Now fortune said he I bid defiance to thy malice and since my divine Princess does vote me happy I hope both Gods and men will declare themselves in my favour He spoke much more to this purpose which I only answered in blushes for all the time he staid after this my shame would not let me speak in any other language and I found it so impossible to recover my colour and confidence as the discovery of it made him take his leave sooner than he intended and he went out of my chamber with hopes that till then he had never conceived After that day he directed all his actions to deliver me so many messages of Love and paid me his respects in so amiable and obliging a fashion or rather Madam my weakness understood it so as I was content to pull off the mask of my affection but before I came to this confession it cost him whole days with abundance of pressing and passionate discourse whereof the length releases my repetition but when I had once vanquished that difficulty he receiv'd some proofs of my affection that shewed my indulgence in a deeper tincture than the difference of our conditions would well permit however they were still limited by rules as straight as the steady hand of a vertuous resolution could draw them he never obtained any favour from me besides what the tongue and the eye delivered and I strictly reserv'd my self to the Kings disposal without whose consent I always assured him his hopes were thrown away I know Madam that maugre all my circumspection I was yet very culpable in not taking the first kindlings of affections from the commands of those to whom my birth had submitted me but I know too that 't is no wonder if extraordinary merit produce effects that are like themselves nor need those hearts that have held the fortress all their life against a puny Siege be asham'd of an overthrow by such forces as vanquished me Yes my dear Artaban I love thee and I should love thee yet much more than my self if the Gods had left thee still amongst men couldest thou come hither again from thy starry habitation thou would'st justifie the affection I have for thee and I cannot now disavow it with so little shame as before I confessed it The fair Princess was constrained to stop the current of her discourse on purpose to make way for another compos'd of some fugitive tears that had newly broken over their Crystal banks in abundance and after she had thus wept and sigh'd away some moments wherein the fair Queen took occasion to sweeten her sorrows with all the comfort that her pity could invent she went on in this manner Artaban was ador'd among the Parthians and the prodigious things he had done for the interest of that nation acquired him so much honour in the general esteem as could not well be ascrib'd and save Religion harmless unto a mortal person especially the King who had reap'd the fairest fruits of his glorious labours and saw himself surely seated by his valour not only in his own estate but Master of one of the greatest Kingdoms in Asia openly published his impuissance to pay what was due to so great a vertue of this he made a particular declaration the same day he was crown'd King of Media after the ceremony was ended holding Artaban in his left hand 'T is of you great man said he with a loud voice for I have neither power nor will to disavow it that I hold this puissant Crown and I do here deeply protest in this assembly by all that Religion requires to make a vow sacred and obliging I have nothing so much my own to make it not totally at your disposal nor can you name a demand of what price soever that I will stay to consider before I grant it Artaban heard these words with an excess of joy and full of those forward hopes they had given him turning to the King Sir said he it beseems not Artaban to misprize the favors of his great and bounteous Master for which perhaps he will shortly take enouragement to put a name to his request for though my service be light and trivial yet I cannot be ignorant that it is the custom of such great and magnificent Princes as your self rather to quadrate the reward to the largeness of their own hearts than the merit of him that receives it The King who had not yet spi'd out the mark that Artaban aim'd at received his discourse with a very high satisfaction and as till then he had been much troubled at his refusal of the greatest offices of honour trust and profit in the Kingdom the belief that he would now accept the proffer'd bounty which he hop'd might pay the purchase of Artaban's service for the rest of his life made him gladly fasten upon the words and oblig'd him openly to repeat and confirm his promise I confess Madam that I received a great deal of contentment from my intelligence of this passage betwixt him and the King and a few days after was so easie to be overcome to a consent by Artaban's importunities that so soon as the next occasion invited him by adventuring to name his demand he should try how the King stood inclined to the accomplishment of our wishes this permission so exalted him as he thought nothing impossible to his Courage and Fortune and as Nature had always lodg'd in his brest a haughty opinion of himself he was grown too credulous to suspect any imposture in these hopes that presaged a favourable event to his designs He made choice of a time to hazard the attempt when many conducing circumstances appeared to plead in his behalf and just upon the first arrival of a rumour that the Kings of Cilicia and Cappadocia had each raised a numerous Army to play an after-game in Tigranes quarrel he thought no time so critical as that to attempt the King nor none so promising the approaching danger considered to transform his hopes to assurance besides the publick engagement of the Kings word to grant him his desire without a limitation he remembred the same expression he had under his hand that he was willing to reward his services with the dearest and most precious thing he had in the world his hopes were yet better fortifi'd against the menaces of fear by the publick wishes and he knew the Parthians daily talk'd without a whisper that if their King desir'd to set an invincible guard upon his new acquest and raise the power of his Empire to a prouder
pitch of glory than ever the greatest of his predecessors had flown it Phraates could find no fitter expedient than Artaban's alliance by the marriage of his Daughter since all the state policy he had though it ransak'd and rifled the whole world for a choise could not find out a more valiant Defender for his People nor a Successour whose Person and Goverment would be more agreeable to his Subjects that the Male-line of the Arsacides being utterly extinct the Prince Tyridates excepted to whom they all knew Phraates would never leave his Crown and the bastard Venones whose pretences would be always like himself illegitimate he would either be obliged to create a Candidate for his Crown at home or else contract an alliance with some neighbour King and so run the hazard of Metamorphosing the Parthian liberty to a provincial servitude which could not be less than insupportable to that warlike nation When these popular discourses had once found the way to Artaban's ear they quickly matured his resolution to a positive degree in fine he began to think that delay might do him injury and concluded it unfit to stay till time might moderate the Kings impatience to requite him and the beauty of his brave acts had left its gloss in his memory In the heat of those thoughts after he had once more beg'd my permission he went one day to find out the King in the Palace Garden where he was then walking with a train of his principal Nobility about him the King receiv'd him with a very affable aspect and after the exchange of some open discourse before all the company at last as his frequent use had made it a custom he drew him aside from a particular Parley and to that purpose making a sign to the rest not to follow him he pass'd into the next Alley leaning upon his arm and began to entertain him with indifferent things as chance and occasion offer'd to his thought Artaban having allowed some time to a respective attention and shap'd such replies as he knew were most agreeable to Phraates humour at last grew desirous to change the Theme of their Discourse to a subject of more importance and chasing all the fear from his heart might discredit his design by appearing in his looks and gesture Sir said he how are your intentions now bent to dispose of us has your judgement voted us useless for your future service and are you content to sit quietly down with the Crowns of Parthia and Media when you have power enough at your beck to Master the greatest part of Afia you understand that the Kings of Cappadocia and Cilicia have already raised forces in Tigranes behalf to wrest the Crown of Media out of your hands and in outward appearance your Majesty takes no care to prevent them I beseech you Sir give us leave to go meet them before they force the unwelcome complement of a hostile visit upon us let me once more beg the honour and assignation of as many troops to my conduct as I had for the conquest of Media and suffer me for your interests to carry the War home to those Princes doors that are coming beyond their limits in chase of their own misfortune Sir I do make you a promise of their ruine to be paid in less than is requisite to take exact survey of their Provinces and if I do not lay both those Crowns at your feet before Time be two years older blot out the name of Artaban from your memory and call me Impostor When Artaban spake in this manner the King regarded him with admiration and instructed by the proofs of a fortunate experience how capable he was to change his words into actions he listened to the same language from him as he would have done to an Oracle which might have been interpreted from another mouth as the effects of a vain presumption and he had made use of some time to shape his reply throwing his arm about his neck Invincible Artaban said he or rather the Soul of valour sent down to the Parthians as a favour from Heaven for their security and advancement I have so little reason to lay the blemish of a doubt upon your generous propositions as I one day hope by the vertue of your warlike arm to check the arrogance of that proud Empire and pluck the Eagle pinions that pretend to make the world their quarry since you are resolved to unsheath your sword against them I hold the Cappadocians and Cilicians already defeated and I assure my self with as much confidence of both those Diadems as the Crown of Media wherewith your hands impal'd my Temples but Artaban to what do you reduce me how unkindly you use me with this excess of merit and how do you think I can reign over so many people without a bleeding honour when I shall not reign but by the sole valour of a man that will take no reward at my hands you have owned so little esteem of offices treasures and indeed of all things else that others would greedily seek as I have scarce the confidence to resolicite your acceptance of any gift for fear of offending your courage and will you never let me know that though you refuse what my gratitude is able to offer as a requital yet you will not disdain it as a badge of my inviolable amity Artaban unwilling to let so fair an opportunity escape him regarding the King with a visage less assured than before No Sir said he I will not always dwell upon these terms of refusal and if till now by so long forbearing to ask a recompence I have pass'd in your thoughts for a modest man I shall doubtless now by demanding one of too high a value incur the censure of an insolent Sir you have that at your disposal that carries a capacity not only of rewarding my former services they are too cheap and worthless to give me any right to so rich a salary but indeed of overpaying like a great and bountious King all the rest that I am preparing to render you which I do not question shall wear the badge of more desert and importance than any that preceeded them 'T is true Sir that Riches and Dignities are not rated by my courage as the world esteems them but you have a treasure in your power that may dazle the boldest aspirer to a distrust of his ambition and if I have rashly raised the wings of my desires that way I do but take the just dimensions of your greatness which I cannot offend so weakly to ask any thing below it in proportion In fine Sir the Princess Elisa is the only fruit the Centre the Soul of my life and all my happiness and if I may dare to call her so the price of my Actions if my ambition has broke the bounds of her proper sphere and soars too high I will strive to train my services to the same sublimity and if Crowns be wanting to set off that
themselves a breach in spight of all his Courage that denyed them passage Gods what a fearful divination of my succeeding mischief did that object shoot into my soul how quickly did my spirit at the same time take the impression of my misery and release my repose I advanced towards Artaban with little less disquiet in mine than his looks had shown me the noise of my approach made him lift up his head and he knew me in spight of the prepossession of those passions that disputed precedency in his Soul the light of me inraged the storms of those transports that shook him and he had much ado to stop the torrent of his griefs from breaking out into a discovery by a loud out-cry though I often called him by his name as I made my approaches it was long before he could digest his woes into words and instead of advancing to meet me he leaned his back against an Arbour and holding his arms a cross upon his breast he staid my coming up in a posture that pierced my very Soul with pity my affection soon reached me a share in his anguish and it cost me no second thoughts to divine the cause of his inquietude the fear I had entertained to learn something from his mouth that would justifie it self made my tongue turn coward for a time and charactered a disturbance in my looks that were little short of his in fine I first overcame the confusion that shared it self betwixt us and violently putting by my own sad apprehensions that my judgement might have liberty to make a more dexterous application of comfort to his How now Artaban said I are your knowledge and courage both wracked with one gust what have you let your self sink under the weight of a grief that appears in your visage below the knowledge of Elisa At these words Artaban drew up two or three groans from the bottome of his breast and fastning his eyes upon me with a wild and half distracted look Yes Madam I do know you said he with a voice composed of almost as many sighs as words and oh that Heaven had pleased I had known you less or better In fine Madam pursued he a little re-inforcing his spirits the same Gods that took me from you have cruelly torn those hopes from my heart that my indiscretion planted there and a King whom I can neither call cruel nor ingrateful because he is your Father does rigorously punish the same offence your indulgence pardoned his refusal exposes me to a death that might have been far less bitter and more glorious had I received it as a just doom of my boldness from your command but in this my destiny is much more cruel that utterly unable to love the man that pays me no other price but Death for all my services it is not permitted me to hate him that disclosed such a mine of Treasure as your self to the World At this period a shower of tears that violently broke their way stayed the pursuit of his discourse which softened my Soul to such a melting temper as forced me freely to unlock the channels of my own and putting my hand before my face with a purpose in part to hide them Artaban said I my fears were always Prophetick of what has befallen you and though your services esteemed aright I believed ever there could be nothing too great for your expectations yet I know the Kings disposition too well to over-see so sad an augury this I may safely protest and possibly with too much truth that the cause and sense of your sorrows have equally divided themselves betwixt us and since you cannot be ignorant that I love you you may easily guess from that how large a share my heart has carved it self in the sufferings of your disgrace would to Heaven it lay in my power to smooth all the frowns in the face of your fortune and that the Gods had as happily suited the Kings intentions to mine as my will is submitted to the indispensible tyes of duty to an absolute dependance upon his Believe it Artaban you should quickly know that your vertue takes place of all those in my choice that swell the titles of the greatest Kings nor has the whole Universe a capacity to court my soul with a clearer satisfaction than by putting you in possession of that priviledge my wishes design you But since the Gods will not let us be happy at our own Election call upon the greatness of your courage for a resignation to their wills 't is that must create you hopes to calm and quiet your displeasures and doubtless cut you out fairer Fortunes than any can flatter your expectations in the Court of Parthia I cannot see my self reduced Dear Artaban without a sad reluctance to offer you this Counsel but you must not be ignorant how poorly my power can befriend my will in a business of this nature and you know with what a precise obedience maids of my birth are tyed to the austere rules of their duty they are those that subscribe me a blind submission to the will of my Father and my King And they are those interrupted the sad Artaban that reduce me to this deplorable estate which draws tears from your fair eyes no Madam 't is not the power of a King that creates my misfortune had I nothing but that to combat perhaps I might find forces enough to hold up my Buckler which now I must lay down at your feet since you are my opposer it may be I should throw down all other difficulties that stand in my way to happiness and I think the powerfullest impediments would all become the Trophies of my resolution if your consent would vote the Triumph but 't is that I know not how to hope and 't is that too Madam that has made a coward of all my courage to demand it no Madam I dare not ask any thing that crosses your humour in behalf of a miserable man nor pretend to the violation of a duty that forbids me to be happy for though I were born to greater Crowns than those that embrace your Fathers Temples I should not suffer so bold a thought but since a Sword is all the portion that Heaven has given me I should be too unworthy of the glory I have gotten by it in serving you should I ask more than what I have already received of your goodness my desires then Madam are all contracted in this single request continued he throwing himself at my feet that you will only suffer me to go away with the honour of being yours and continue it till one short Scene of my life be acted I shall not long trouble you with keeping the Commission and I promise you to make hast into the arms of Death as the only medicine that is left for all miseries While he spake in this manner I had seated my self upon a bank that was behind me and regarding him in what sad estate with all the
his feet and return him this answer Sir I was ever resolved to spend my whole life in a continued practice of obedience to all you shall please to ordain me but you know Sir your self has always taken care to nourish so strong an aversion in me to Tigranes as I hope you will not think it strange if I feel an impossibility to vanquish it Tigranes was my Enemy reply'd Phraates when I commanded you to hate him but now he is become a friend to the house of Parthia 't is my absolute and indispensible will that you love him with all the faithful rights of affection that are due to the man I have chosen for your Husband Ah! my Lord said I will you wrack the quiet of my life and sink my joys at once for State consideration and will you not give me some time at least to clear my breast of all that denies him entrance there before you force me to his bed never think to obtain any thing of me reply'd the furious King but the extremest degrees of hatred and rigour if you keep the least objection to my will unvanquished by your duty go get you out of my presence and come no more in my sight before you have bow'd your stubborn heart to obey me without a scruple of repugnance I was struck dumb at the cruelty of his language and returned to my chamber so confus'd and afflicted as it cost me the rest of that day to get my reason again into her place The next morning there came a command from the King that I should make my self ready to receive Tigranes Embassadours who a little after being entred my chamber they entred me an account of their delegation in behalf of their Prince and offered the first homage of that reverence which they paid me as due to their Sovereign Queen I would not suffer any passion to break loose in their presence as without doubt I had done if I durst have followed the stream of my own resentments but they cull'd a very slender satisfaction from my language and looks and if an impos'd formality put some of my words in a civil frame they came from me in a posture so visibly constrained as they might easily read through it the small inclination I had to become their Mistriss however in publick they deem'd it not fit to silence any further inquisition and the King without so much as vouchsafing any enquiry what blows I had struck in the Combat with my self caus'd all things to be prepar'd for a Ceremony to which I was to be lead as a victim to an Alter Gods what a world of unquiet thoughts did then tread the mazes of my soul what excuses did I not make to the unfortunate Artaban whom a rigorous constraint had caused me to abandon how often have I summoned heaven to take notice of the violence was offered me how oft from the justification have I passed to a complaint against him accusing his affection of Apostacy and falsly charging him with insensibility of my affection and discharge of my interests Cephisa and her Mother daily endeavoured to dry my eyes but were utterly unable to stop their source with any solace to my sad heart and the Queen my Mother whose sweet disposition ever charged it self with a tender care and a dear indulgence for the peace of my spirit knowing her power too weak to wrestle with the Kings intentions left nothing unessaid to ease me of my anguish by perswading a resignation to his will though she has protested a hundred times a day that she would not think it too dear a rate to ransome my repose at the price of her own and vowed she could not see the cruel preparation of my following miseries without getting all my sighs and sufferings by heart in her own brest But fortune had not spent the spightfullest mischiefs she intended upon me and she raised me up a fresh disaster unforeseen by my fears that struck me deeper than all that fore-ran it and now Madam you are to understand the uttermost effects of ingratitude and cruelty There was but one day left unspent before that which was appointed for my nuptial Ceremony when the King being in one of the Palace Courts inviron'd with a proud train composed of the prime Nobility among the Parthians and the King of Media's Embassadors saw himself aborded by a man whose unexpected appearance was quickly grown the astonishment of all the beholders His visage was pale and a little altered yet not so estranged by that change but he was quickly known to be Artaban by the whole assembly at the view of a man so indeared to the best and affectionately rever'd among all the Parthians their joy started out into a thousand acclamations and the King recovering his face as well as the rest appeared with a greater surpizal in his looks than any of those attended him Artaban not so much as straying one single regard from his purpose upon the troop that invironed him directed his addresses to the King himself and his steps no sooner carried him near enough to be heard when setting apart all other formalities King of the Parthians said he I am not returned to thy Court to demand Elisa nor to tell thee I am content to fall in the price of my services into a cheaper value I am only come hither to make thee a new offer of this arm which of late thou hast missed to thy grand disadvantage and whereof the sole absence has possibly reduced thee to take very shameful laws from thy Enemies I hear thou art resolved to give away thy Daughter to Tigranes the cruellest of all thy opposers to whom upon a fair and unforced treaty thou wouldest doubtless have refused her and thou receivest him for thy Son-in-Law at a time when all Asia takes notice to thy shame that nothing but fear and weakness makes the match Phraates if thou hast not cashiered all care and esteem of thy repute and glory yet break this dishonourable Marriage and instead of giving with thy Daughter the Crown of Parthia to Tigranes suffer me to restore thee that of the Medes which once before thou didst receive at my hands I dare engage all the honour I have gathered in the field to recover it before Gods and men and if with the sole assistance of thy Forces I do not set it once more upon thy head before the Sun shall compleat the Circle of a year I am contented mine shall be exposed to all the rigours thy wrath can invent with an utter abjuration of any plea for mercy Thus did the undaunted Artaban disclose his thoughts and the King who during this discourse had recovered himself from his first amazement darting at him a disdainful look And whence comest thou said he thou that didst so basely shrink from me in the war has thy foolish presumption brought thee to be my Counsellor in peace art thou now crept out of those lurking places where thou
obtained when we were once on Ship-board and had lost the sight of so many persons that came no farther than the shoar and might propably carry back dangerous news of them that permitted it however the first day I thought it unfit to hazard a repulse till I had made my self better acquainted with the faces of those that had power to grant it but the next day after some endeavour to soften and flex the spirits of Polinices and Tigranes Embassadors with gentler words and smoother looks than I had formerly put on I begged their permission for a sight of Artaban upon the deck of his Vessel at first these barbarous Men made some scruple to consent and defended their disobedience with the Kings orders which they alledged were positively express and rigorous against it but at last I assaulted their obstinacy with so many powerful and prevalent reasons telling them that the sight of me could no way conduce to the safety of Artaban that at best they would but rob themselves of an opportunity to oblige me since I knew I could owe the same favour to Tigranes when ever I desired it and at last threatning to let my self dye with hunger and so bereave them of all the honour and reward they expected for their service in my conduct to the King of Media if they refused my demand as in fine whether the fear of a future revenge for the churlish refusal or the importunity of my prayer was the best advocate they gave me my desires then was Artaban's vessel brought near to mine and himself placed upon the Deck with all his Irons about his arms and feet this object struck a horrour through me of my Fathers inhumanity and if Cephisa had not supported me doubtless I had fallen upon the Deck and all the succour she could lend my feeble spirits had much ado to hold in my senses to their several properties Artaban took some ruddy shame into his looks that I saw him in that slave-like posture charged with Irons and I read in the very rays that his eyes darted downwards for I saw they fled my face that it was not the fear but the kind of death that troubled him and he could not patiently take the account of those thoughts that told him he was carried to be thrown at the feet of his mercy who had so lately been dispoiled and strip'd of his Purple by his own hands of a man that was Enemy and Rival conjoyned and such a Rival whom not only his anger but his amorous interest had composed him a resolution to kill him in the very centre of his guards these reflections swelled his great heart to a purpose of anticipating his death before he received it by the King of Media's doom and in pursuit of that design perceiving he was too strictly guarded to surprize any opportunity of throwing himself into the Sea he resolved to make hunger his Executioner and had therefore taken very little nourishment since we first imbarqued After I had a little recovered my spirits that at first were driven from their places by the assault of so sad a spectacle fastning my eyes upon his face and discovering all to his easie interpretation in the Dialect of my looks that the presence of so many Witnesses advised me to hide Artaban said I the condition you appear in is very unworthy of you and if I received not some comfort from a hope to release you of all the shame and danger you should quickly know how large a propriety I claim in your misfortunes Artaban fierce as a Libian Lyon to all besides only in my presence ever gentle and submissive raised his eyes to my visage and strugling with himself to keep some sighs from breaking prison Madam said he my condition is very glorious since it takes a pedigree from no other fountain but the love of you I shall imbrace my death and finish my Tragedy without the least reluctance if my sufferings for you may speak the Epilogue for you alone I abandoned Tigranes Interests for you chased him out of your Fathers Kingdom and despoiled him of his own for you incur'd the indignation of Phraates and in fine for you am now going to tender my naked throat to the sword of the incensed Tigranes 'T is I Madam must be made the sacrifice to propitiate your Hymen and Tigranes will possess his Heaven of happiness in you without a cloud when he shall once see his fears washed away with the blood of a man that had he lived would still have held him to a very close dispute of his title this is my Destiny and yours Madam is to be led in triumph into the arms of a young King that attends your approaches with a panting expectation to receive a flourishing Crown and pass away your dayes with all the varieties of content and delight that are worthy to entertain you the establishment of yours and the end of my life I believe will both arrive at one conjuncture of time since your consent has sealed to these I forbid my soul so much as a secret murmur but if my preceeding services have made me worthy to prefer a supplication I would fain conjure you to obtain of Tigranes that he would not let me survive this last Scene of my misfortune there is cause to supect if I come alive into his hands he will prevent the death he intends me by another matyrdom ten thousand times more cruel which I shall suffer every several moment in being made a spectator of his felicity but your goodness bids me hope you will take care to cut off this approaching disaster and represent to Tigranes that he ought to content himself with his Fortune and my single fate without trampling upon me by an ignoble triumph at my death that will sully the credit and tarnish all the glory of his life While Artaban expressed himself in this manner I was half drowned in my own tears which the sad contexture of his language and the deplorable estate wherein I beheld him drew away from my eies in great abundance and though his reproaches offered me some cause of exception I easily pardoned all to his grief and assured my self they were the off-spring of a belief that I had willingly dispos'd my self by the conquest of all my repugnance to espouse Tigranes If I could safely have trusted my justifications in that place as it was then peopled I had quickly cured him of his errour and indeed I that had been the source of all his misfortunes could not owe less to that gallant man whom I then saw ready to perish for my sole interest I durst not give him my thoughts at their full proportion and yet I was unwilling to keep all under hatches that my heart had for him supposing those that heard us would partly conjecture pity to be the parent of that which indeed was the child of affection encouraged by these thoughts and regarding him with more passion than
she caused the head of the unfortunate Artibasus to be cut off and sent it to his enemy I pass over these things succinctly as being known to the greatest part of the world and as belonging to the life of that great Princess whereupon we have less occasion to insist As very a child as I was I remembred that this action struck me with such a horrour as by all likelihood I was not capable of and the young Artemisa having received this loss otherwise than might have been expected from her age I continued weeping with her divers days no body being able to get me out of her company as I wiped away her tears I mingled my own abundantly with them and though after their Father's death neither the Prince nor the Princess came any more to the Palace but confined themselves to a sorrow conformable to their condition those who had the care of my education had no quiet with me if they did not continually have me to Artemisa and the Queen who did much indulge me and could not condemn this inclination of mine permitted them to give me this satisfaction as often as possibly they could I said to her then with a countenance as sad as her own You will love me no more now Artemisa and possibly you will bate me after the displeasure you have received from the Queen my Mother I repeated these words to her divers times and she answered me Alexander I will love you still for it was not you that killed the King my Father No Artemisa reply'd I it was not I and I believed I should part with my own life to restore the King your Father his We were about ten years of age when we had this discourse for it was almost about the same time that the final misfortunes of our family happened you have heard without doubt that Caesar came to besiege us in Alexandria and that Anthony having lost all his hopes and believing he had lost the Queen too who was more dear to him than all the world dispatched himself with his own hands and that Cleopatra desiring to avoid the shame of the triumph for which Octavius intended her ended her life by the sting of an Aspik which at that rate saved her from the ignominy that was prepared for her and that Caesar having rendred himself quiet possessor of all things that were in Anthony's power carried us to Rome my Sister Cleopatra my bother and I I mean my brother Ptolomy younger than I by a year for as for the Prince Caesario the son of Julius Caesar and the Queen a Prince incomparable hopeful whose memory you have awakened in me by your sight and by some resemblances which I find in your visages according to the old Idea which remains in my memory he was killed by the cruel order of Augustus by the way to Ethiopia whither the Queen our Mother had sent him Hitherto a out of complacence only and for fear of discovering himself Caesario had heard things which he knew as well as the person who related them but seeing him about to enter upon the discourse of those passages which were not as yet come to his knowledge he gave ear with more attention than before and heard him pursue his narration in this manner Before we departed from Alexandria Caesar sent back the Prince and the two Princesses of Armenia into their Country with an honourable convoy and many presents and testimonies of his amity to the young King of Armenia their brother I was almost as sensible of this separation as I had been of the greatest of our misfortunes and having obtained permission to bid Artemisa adieu I thought I should have melted into tears at her departure she embraced me divers times and according to the liberty indulged to our tender years she permitted me to render her my caresses in the same manner Artemisa said I with a rationallity somewhat above my age you are going at your liberty but we remain slaves but I assure you my captivity is not that which afflicts me most and amongst all our miseries I find nothing so unsupportable as our separation This was at least the sense of what I said to her but I know not whether I could range my words in this order at that time or not Artemisa seemed to be moved with them and accompanying the tears I shed with some of hers Alexander said she I would with all my heart you might go with us and I am sensible that I shall be much afflicted when I shall be deprived of your sight Ah Artemisa replyed I you will remember me no more and when you are grown bigger than now you are you will be served by so many Princes that you will entirely forget your poor Alexander you leave behind who loves you so dearly I will never forget you replyed Artemisa and if you love me still when you are grown a man come and see me and you shall know whither I have lost the affection I have for you I will do it Artemisa I will do it answered I with precipitation I will come one day and put you in mind of the promise you have made me and if I had now liberty to wait upon you nothing in the world should separate me from you This was our conversation after which I was constrained to let her depart and I staid behind with all the grief that at that time I was capable of A few daies after their departure Octavius took us with him to Rome we arrived there and since I must needs confess our shame we served as an ornament to the triumph of our Vanquisher if we had been of ripers years we had without doubt according to the example of the Queen our Mother avoided by our death the ignominy they made us suffer but besides that our youth took from us almost all sense and knowledge of our condition we find some excuses for it and accuse fortune only for the calamities whereinto we were fallen through her cruelty Not long after the vertuous Princess Octavia sister to Augustus and Wife to Anthony our Father whom he had forsaken for Cleopatra and who in spight of the unworthy usage she had received from her Husband had alwaies taken his part at Rome against her Brother although he took up arms partly for her quarrel dwelling still in his house and managing his estate as if they had agreed the best in the world received us not as if we had been her Husbands children but as her own she put us entirely into the possession of Anthony's estate which Caesar had left him and she treated us in the same manner as she did her Son Marcellus and her Daughters as well those which she had by Marcellus her former Husband as those two which she had by our Father we began according to her will to converse with her Family as if we had been all Brothers and Sisters but the Empress Livia finding somewhat extraordinary in the Princess Cleopatra
towards heaven O Artibasus cry'd he O deplorable Father of a Son who was too weak to give thee succour If hitherto thy Manes have been unsatisfied with my cares and if I have not been able to appeale them by part of that hateful blood behold me now in a condition to sacrifice to thee the most agreeable and most just victim that could ever be afforded to thee And afterwards turning himself towards me with an action full of terrour I am sorry said he that thou hast but one life to satisfie and if the Gods had bestowed more upon thee I might make a more agreeable sacrifice of them to the soul of a King whom against all manner of right thy Parents put to a cruel death since it hath been the will of heaven that the cruel executioners of the greatest King of Asia should escape my vengeance but not from that of the Gods who have brought them to an end suitable to their crimes I will take such as they please to send me and will make such an example of thee as all the world shall take notice of Artaxus spake in this manner but I was not at all intimidated by his threatnings and without being troubled I replyed Artaxus I will not justifie nor excuse my Parents actions before thee if they caused thy Fathers death 't is possible they were induced to it by some lawful occasion thou knowest I was then of an age that was capable to take little cognizance of it but if notwithstanding I was absolutely innocent of the displeasure done thee thou findest in me any matter to satiate the resentments follow the motions wherewith they inspire thee and do not expect that I should beg thee to reflect upon the birth of a man who is not born thy inferiour or upon the vicissitudes of fortune which may yet throw thee into the power of my relations as I am fallen into thine Neither the consideration of his birth answered Artaxus nor of the inconstancy of fortune to which Cleopatra her self was shortly after exposed could guard my Father from her cruelty and when she took off his head by the hand of an Executioner she had not the death of a Father to revenge as I have nor the least occasion to violate upon his account what is due to the Persons of Kings when upon so just a motive of revenge I shall do what she did out of a base desire to oblige the King of the Medes no Person will blame me and thou art not innocent because thou art the Son of the murtherers of my Father but to this reason which might give thee a thousand deaths thou hast added another by continuing disguised as thou hast done in my Dominions thou couldest not have continued concealed and unknown as thou hast done in the Court and near the Person of thine Enemy upon any good motive Tell us the occasion of this brave design and do not hide from us a truth that we shall force out of thy mouth if thou dost not make a voluntary confession of it I valued thy power too little replyed I to content thy curiosity out of fear of thy menaces and though the occasion which hath brought me into thy Dominions hath glory enough in it to justifie it to the World thou shalt be the last to whom I will make confession of it Young man replyed the King with a smile full of sharpness we shall see if this resolution will accompany thee to the last and then turning himself towards the Princess his Sister who had hearkned to our Dialogue more like a dead than a living person and by the divers changes of her countenance expressed a part of her thoughts Madam said he this Egyptian was not unknown to you whom I suspected at the first sight and whose part you took so earnestly If he had been known to me answered the Princess I should not have permitted him to continue so long so near an Enemy whose inclinations I was acquainted with If yours replyed the King were such as they ought to be you would have a resentment equal to mine against the murtherers of the King your Father but you sufficiently discover to me by your countenance your discourse your past actions that instead of a just enemy as you ought to be Alexander hath found you a person more affectionate than your duty did permit 't is you alone without doubt that have retained him with you and this intelligence you hold with him is the effect of that amity you contracted with him whilst your Father's head was cutting off These words sensibly touched the Princess but she having a courage that could hardly dissemble her thoughts and believing it a baseness upon this occasion absolutely to deny them made no difficulty in part to discover them and looking upon the King with a countenance void of fear I have contracted no amity with Alexander answered she wherewith I may fear to be reproached and I call the Gods to witness that during his continuance with me I knew him for no other than Alcippus but when I knew him to be Alexander the resentments which are common to us both against the culpable were not extended to the innocent and if upon my account he hath exposed himself to the danger whereinto he is fallen next to my honour I have nothing so dear that I would not have given to save him from it Artaxus became almost mad at this discourse of the Princess and not being able to dissemble his rage Madam said he since you are so pitiful to your Enemies you shall have matter enough shortly to exercise your compassion Carry him to prison continued be turning himself toward the principal Officers of his Guards whom be called by their names and upon pain of your Lives see that he be kept laden with Irons till by a publick spectacle I make all Armenia see their Kings revenge I did not vouchsafe a reply to these cruel words of the Armenian and only casting a look upon Artemisa where by I declared as much as possibly I could that I died for her without repugnance I marched in the middle of the guards that environed me towards the Prison whither they conducted me Thus as you see I passed from felicity to danger in an instant and that supreme happiness to which Artemisa some moments before had advanced me ought to be counterbalanced by some misfortune my projects hitherto had been crowned with too prosperous success and this too great a calm was without doubt the presage of a urious tempest I was according to the intention of Artaxus really conducted into the common Prison and not into those places of restraint for the custody of Princes or any persons of a considerable condition and though out of the respect or pity of those who had the command to do it I was not loaden with Irons as he had ordered yet I was kept under so severe and strict a guard that all my liberty had no greater
him That time is past with you said the insolent Eurilochus and since fortune hath now submitted you to those who heretofore attended upon you you must do by them as they did once by you and expect your destiny from their will as they expected and received from Anthony's These words full of Pride and reproach put me into such choler against him that spake them that I could not dissemble but looking upon him with an eye full of disdain and indignation both together 'T is thy interest said I to him to oppose my liberty and if it pleased the Gods that we were in another condition assure thy self thy life should pay for thy insolence Eurilochus though he was in a condition not to fear my threatnings looked pale at this discourse and seeing something in my face which in spight of the condition wherein I then was forced him to some respect he held down his head and turned himself another way without reply After that day I had no more conversation either with him or his companion but I entertained my self only with my two faithful servants who were acquainted with the whole secret of my life and sometimes when I could by stealth with the Keeper that brought me the Princesse's Letters In fine after some scurvy formalities that Artaxus made use of in his proceedings by his cruel orders I was condemned to lose my head upon a scaffold in the great place of Artaxata the rumour of it presently spread it self through the whole City but I assure my self that the most pitiless of the inhabitants did not approve that cruelty Cepio by whose imprudence I was reduced to this condition who since that time had not stirred from Artaxata was one of the first that heard that news He almost died with grief when he considered himself as the cause of my misfortune and the only cause of his stay in the Armenian Court was to seek some occasion to make some reparation for the fault he had committed When he understood the cruel sentence passed against me he went boldly to present himself before Artaxus and without fear of the danger he might incur by provoking him King of Armenia said he I understand that you have condemned the Son of Antony to a shameful death but take good heed how you execute that sentence which will be your ruine and give no way to the death of that Prince except you desire to see the destruction of your People and the absolute desolation of your Dominions And who shall lay desolate my Dominions replyed the King of Armenia with a scornful look who shall ruine my people and execute thy threats Augustus answered Cepio and all the principal persons of Rome who either by blood or friendship have interest in Alexander the whole Empire the whole World will arm with them for the revenge of that Prince and you will see such powers fall upon you upon this quarrel as will infallibly ruine you Augustus replyed Artaxus ought rather to be a friend to me than to the son of his enemy and the remainders of the blood of Anthony will not be more considerable to him than the Kings of Armenia his most ancient Allies Iâ— Augustus be dis-interessed as without doubt he is I do not much value the rest and to those powers thou talkest of I shall oppose others that shall protect me from the effect of thy menaces but let what will happen the Son of Cleopatra shall die to morrow and thou shalt have thy part in the spectacle if thou hast a mind to it in the publique place Yes bluntly replyed Cepio I will have my share in the Spectacle and seeing the young Prince is fallen into this misfortune by my imprudence I will hazard my dearest blood in endeavouring the reparation of my fault With these words he went from the King who had left hearkning to him before and would not have suffered him to have said so much if those about him had not perswaded him to give way a little to the humour of this hair-brain'd man In the mean while the Princess no sooner understood that the sentence of my death was passed and that I was to die the next day without delay but she flew out of her chamber transported with grief with an intention to make use of the last remedies that were left her As she was going to the King she found him upon the top of the stairs and she no sooner saw him but running to him with an action full of the marks of her grief and casting her self at his knees which she embraced and moistened with her tears Sir said she once my brother full of tenderness and affection and now a King inaccessible to pity either command my life to be taken away in your presence or give me Alexander ' s. The barbarous King was not at all moved to compassion at this spectacle but rudely snatching himself out of his Sisters arms Die if thou wilt said he woman without resentment or honour and believe that in the dis-esteem thou hast caused me to have of thee I shall be so far from giving thee Alexander 's life that I would not give the life of the least of my enemies to save thine With these words he flung away without so much as looking upon her more and the Princess rising up full of grief and despair Yes Monster cryed she I will die and death will be a thousand times more sweet to me than the life I can lead with a Tiger and a Barbarian I will die seeing thou wouldest have it so but by my death I will furnish thee with revenging furies which shall eternally torment thee At these expressions breaking out a fresh into tears and being in a condition that imprinted a tender compassion in all that were present at this action she ran to her appartment where she threw her self between the arms of Leucippe and the rest of her women and was ready to expire there through the violence of her grief What Alexander said she shalt thou die and shall this unfortunate creature for whom thou hast exposed thy self with so much love not have the credit with a brother to divert the inhumane instrument of death from thy head Doth this day onely remain to thee of that life which thou hadst so generously bestowed upon me and shall I behold the bloody preparatives of thy death without preventing it Ah no Alexander hope better of my courage and do not suspect me of a baseness whereof I am not capable I might possibly have lived or lingred out a few days in grief if any other kind of death had separated us but dying here and dying only for my sake who wert always faithful to me since our first acquaintance I am engaged both by my affection and by my honor to bear thee company it shall never be laid as a reproach upon me that I drew thee hither by the command I did once lay upon thee to sacrifice thee in our Country
She never inspired me with any thoughts which were not very conformable to it and I shall never have more respectful conceits nor more advantageous intentions for the greatest Princess upon earth than I have for Delia. And what are your intentions added the King with a more severe countenance than before have you a design to Marry her I know too well answered I the difference I owe to the will of my Father and my King to form these designs without his permission but I will tell your Majesty plainly that if I had obtained your consent I would Marry Delia before all the Princesses upon Earth The King stept two or three paces backward at these words and looking upon me with eyes full of the marks of his indignation O Gods said he what is this that I understand and what baseness do I now find in a Prince whose Father I am and of whom I had conceived such fair hopes What Philadelph could you cast your eyes upon Delia with a design to Marry her I have told your Majesty replyed I that I would never have that design if it were contrary to yours but I will tell you again if you please to give me leave that without doubt I should marry Delia if I had your consent and I judge her worthy of more sublime advancement than to be the Queen of Cilicia The King was more amazed than before at this confirmation and in a crowd of things which he had to say not being able to express himself without disorder and confusion he made divers turns about the Chamber without speaking casting his eyes upon me every moment with an action which sufficiently expressed his choler and after he had kept silence a while in this manner composing his countenance upon a sudden I know Philadelph said he that I ought to inflict such punishments upon you for your fault as might make you sensible of it and you have not so slightly offended me but that I might without blame let you feel the effect of my resentments against you but I will content my self to give you such a punishment as may possibly reduce you to your duty and I will cure you of this passion which is destructive to your repose and honour by removing the cause of it out of your fight to morrow without any farther delay I will send away this stranger from my Court where she hath been the cause of disobedience and disorder and I shall do her no wrong when I shall send her out of this Country and cause her to be safely re-conducted into her own These words pierced my very soul with grief but yet they increased my boldness and I answered the King without much trouble It is in your power Sir to drive Delia out of your Country but I will not stay behind her and into what part of the world soever she retires I will follow her to the last moment of my life and will never be torn from her by any violence or consideration I shall hinder you from that well enough added the King enraged with choler and I shall possibly put you in such a place where you shall have little liberty to run after Delia. That is likewise in your power replyed I but you shall never be able to make me live without Delia and if you deprive me of the liberty of following her all the authority you have cannot hinder me from dying as without doubt I shall do if you exercise this rigour against me The King was almost besides himself at this declaration and in the violence of his choler he threw so many reproaches upon me that the length and disorder of them hinders me from relating them at last when his passion had a little spent it self Philadelph said he your insolence and your baseness render you unworthy of the affection I have for you but I shall bridle that to reduce you to your duty get you gone out of my sight and come no more into it till you have disposed your self to render what you owe me as your Father and as your King In this manner he drave me out of his presence and I retired in such a confusion of thoughts that for a long time after I could not calm my spirits yet for all that I made a firm resolve either to conserve my interest in Delia or to perish and not to recede from the desigh I had for her for any menace or any usage that I might receive from the King That very evening I made a relation of all to Delia and to the Princess Andromeda and upon this discourse Delia renewed the requests she had formerly made to my Sister to give her permission to retire but I hindred the progress of her requests when I said to her with a countenance wherein through the marks which a violent passion imprinted there she might perceive the signs of a strong resolution Delia I have often told you that it is in your power to leave me but I protest to you before all the Gods that if you show so much inhumanity to a Prince who hath given you no cause and if contrary to what you owe to acknowledgment and pity you can resolve to leave me in the shipwrack whereinto you have thrown me this sword shall pierce my heart in your presence and I shall possibly mollifie yours by my blood if I cannot do it by the proofs of a passion which upon those terms I am at with you would not possibly be so cruelly disdained by any other person but your self Delia if she had no sence for love she had some for compassion and always when I made her this discourse she seemed to be moved at it and did very much slack the design she had to quit us but it was not without the testimonies of a smarting grief that she saw her self to be the cause of our troubles and without grand protestations of the little desire she had to contribute to them In the mean while the King out of the affection he had for me fearing the effect of what I had threatned either to follow Delia or to make an attempt upon my own life if he deprived me of my liberty had a design to cross me some other way and seeing divers of his Courtiers or almost all of them enflamed with love for Delia he inspired them with courage to serve her and promised them all manner of favour and assistance upon that account He had a mind particularly to employ Antigenes one of the most amorous and most capable to make himself beloved He was handsome enough of his person and he had a nimble and bold Spirit and the King judging him fit to serve his turn in his intended purpose promised him that if he could prevail upon Delia's spirit and break the union which he believed was between that Maid and I he would not only make a Match between them but amply repair by his munificence whatsoever the stranger wanted so that he
should have no occasion to be unsatisfied with his Fortune With this encouragement Antigenes embarqued himself in the research without repugnance and having access to Delia as persons of his quality usually had to the Maids that attended upon the Queen and Princess and having already given her divers proofs of his love to no purpose upon the hopes which the King gave him he engaged himself more than before and began to render his devoirs to Delia with a great deal of assiduity at first he was somewhat reserved in his addresses fearing to incense me against him but when he saw how I left Delia to the liberty of her conversations he proceeded more boldly and declared his love and the design he had for her with more assurance than before he believed that the most effectual engine he could use to advance himself in her opinion and to serve the Kings intentions was to cry down mine and to cashier all the hopes she could have of my affection Upon this account he represented to her that according to all the laws of prejudice she ought not to amuse her self about me and that I could have no designs for her but what would prove ruinous to her reputation and fortune that the soul of a person of my age easily took fire and did as readily lose those impressions and though I should have the most favourable and advantageous designs for her that could be yet I had not the liberty of mine own actions nor could hope that the King would any longer endure that I should bestow the expressions of my affection upon her By this discourse which he eternally resounded in her ears Antigenes might have wrought something if he had been to deal with any other spirit but Delia's but that admirable person though she judged that there was something of truth in what he said yet she was not at all inclined by it to favour him and she received the proofs of his passion with so much disdain that unless he had been interessed by his love and backed on by the Kings promises he would easily have been repulsed There were divers others besides Antigenes that employ'd themselves in the research of Delia and besides the possession of her the King had promised great gratuities to them who could dis-ingage her from the pretensions which I made to her I saw all this at the first without being moved at it and I did not fear that Delia whom I had found unbatterable by the proofs of my love should surrender to those persons who were so inferiour to me But by little and little the report came to me that Antigenes pretended to Marry her within a short time that the King was resolved upon it and that all things disposed themselves that way as to a business of great certainty This discourle struck me with a sensible displeasure and the first I acquainted with it was Delia to whom I complained in a very sad manner which made her judge that the common opinion had made some impression upon my spirit but she satisfied me by a discourse for different from those terms which she was wont to make use of Philadelph said she you do not know me yet and you may believe if you please that since you honor me so much I will never love any thing that is inferior to you At the speaking of these few words which she uttered with a differet air from that humility wherewith till then she had conformed her self to her fortune there appeared something in her countenance of more than ordinary Grandeur and I perceived the respect I had for her to be much augmented I am charmed said I with this resolution of yours but O Gods how much should I have been charmed and into how happy a condition tion would you put me if instead of making me hope that you will love nothing below me you had promised me that you would love nothing besides me I will not promise to love you replyed Delia but I will tell you really that if I am not sensible of such a Prince as you are I believe I shall never take notice of any other persons whilest I live These words were very innocent yet Delia could not utter them without blushing and they gave me a great deal of satisfaction I confirmed her as much as I could possibly in the disdain she had for those petty Rivals which her beauty and the Kings will raised up against me and she was so naturally inclined that way that I had no difficulty to dispose her to it But a little after the Kings favour did so openly appear upon Antigenes his behalf that though he was far from obtaining Delia's consent all the world believed that he should Marry her and the King having met her in the Princess's Chamber whom he was come to visit Fair Delia said he your beauty hath produced great effects in the Court but I believe you have prudence and reason enough to discern the true Lovers you have gained from those who have the design to deceive you Sir answered Delia there will be so little advantage in deceiving a strange Maid that I shall never suspect that any person ever had any such design Philadelph hath such an intention added the King but Antigenes hath none but what is legitimate and I dare own Delia changed colour at this discourse with a little emotion of choler and casting down her eyes with a disdainful action I shall understand very well Sir said she to make a difference between Antigenes and Prince Philadelph both in respect of their intentions and of their persons Take heed replyed the King that you do not abuse your self upon that account and that for a fallacious splendor you do not abandon the true happyness you may meet withal in espousing Antigenes I do not deserve that fortune answered Delia with an air full of disdain and if I must have a husband in Cilicia it will not be such a man as Antigenes The King who saw very well that this discourse was troublesome to her was not willing to press her any farther and though he was netled with resentment against her yet at the sight of her admirable beauty he could not follow his passions nor defend himself from the respect which it imprinted in all those who were capable to take notice of it But a little after he caused her to be importuned in favour of Antigenes and sent her word by one of his attendants that if she were willing to do him a pleasure she should dispose her self to marry him within a few days Delia made this answer to him that made her this discourse You may tell the King if you please that I am too much obliged to him for the care he takes of my fortune but that it is not in his Dominions that I desire to establish it and that I was born under the authority of another Prince to whom I leave the disposing of it I was very much satisfied
with this answer of Delia's whereby she expressed to the King the small desire she had to submit to his will but I was so nettled at the insolent and importunate perseverance of Antigenes that I could no longer endure it At the first I contented my self to look scurvily upon him and to receive him with coldness and scorn enough whensoever he came neer me but when I saw that he made as if he was ignorant of the cause and that instead of desisting from his design he rendred his visits to Delia more assiduously and pressed her more obstinately than ever I lost the consideration I had had till then of the Kings will who openly upheld him and meeting him one day in the Anti chamber as he came out of Delia's Chamber I stayed him by the arm and looking upon him with a countenance which partly discovered what I had upon my heart Antigenes said I whence come you Sir answered he with an ill assured countenance I come from Delia's Chamber And what is the design replyed I that carry's you thither so often Sir said Antigenes I thought you had known it and the King hath made his inteneion so publick of marrying met to Delia that I did not believe your Highness was ignorant of it You marry Delia said I to him looking scornfully upon him you marry Delia Antigenes was very much troubled at these words and after that I had repeated them to him again Do you see that Door added I shewing him Delia's Chamber-door I charge you never set your foot within it more nor to speak to Delia while you live Remember the charge I give you and if you chance to do otherwise prepare your self to receive death by these hands of mine Antigenes grew pale and trembled at this threat not having the assurance to reply one word and he was no sooner gone from me but he went to throw himself at the Kings feet relating what had happened and protesting to him that he had not the boldness to contest with me nor to cross my inclinations The King upon this discouse fell into the most violent choler that ever had possessed him and after he had uttered part of that which his passion put into his mouth against me and the innocent Delia he commanded Gesippus a Captain of his guards to go find out Delia presently and to give her order to dispose her self to depart from Tharsus within three days and to return toward her own Country or any other she would chuse out of his dominions A way went Gesippus with this order but it was not given so secretly but that I had intelligence of it before it could be executed and going immediately to prevent Gesippus I met him before he had reached the Princess Andromeda's house Gesippus was amazed at the meeting of me but he was much more surprized when stopping him in his passage Whither go you Gesippus said I Sir answered Gesippus I do not think it necessary to conceal my Commission from you the King hath sent me to command Delia to retire and I command you said I to him to return immediately and never whilest you live to take any such commissions I cannot refuse Sir replyed Gesippus the orders of the King my Master but since you are pleased to hinder the execution of them what would you have me say to the King to give him an account of the charge which he hath given me Tell him replyed I that I have taken your Commission upon my self and that Delia will receive the dismission they give her more handsomely from my mouth than from yours that I will spare her the shame to see her self banished from a place which she hath too much honoured with her presence and that she will willingly quit this place so unworthy of her though he do not employ his authority to drive her away The King added Gesippus offers her all necessaries for her conduct and hath commanded me to tell her that he will give her his assistance to return into her own Country The King is too officious replyed I and Delia hath no need of his assistances she shall never want conduct nor Conductor and you may tell the King that by the order he hath given you he hath driven away Delia and his Son too for ever and seeing that I have neither the intention nor the power to make Delia continue in his Dominions against his will I shall inseparably follow her and never leave her to the last moment of my life Ah! Sir answered Gesippus what a kind of resolution is yours I desire none of your Counsel said I go your way and let me have no more replies Gesippus went from me without answering and went to give the King an account of the truth how I had hindred the execution of his orders I retired my self to my apartment knowing my self to be in too bad a condition to present my self to Delia and not desiring to acquaint her with the Kings intention for fear of confirming her in the desire she had to leave us but I passed the night in the most cruel disquiets that ever had tormented me and the day appeared before that any sleep presented it self to my eyes A thousand designs full of irresolution passed through my fancy but I pitched only upon this to endure all things rather than to abandon Delia and never to separate my self from her to my very last gasp Cruel Father said I thy authority signifies little in opposing a heart which acknowledges no other power but Delia 's and whatsoever command nature given thee over me shall never obtain that from me which thou exactest with so much tyranny Ab Delia how much rather would I suffer a thousand deaths than lose the will I have to be eternally yours for one moment and how much rather would I lose all the pretensions which I have to the Crown of Cilicia or that I can have to my life it self than the desire I have to be always your faithful servant That fair image graved in eternal characters in the middle of my heart will expel from thence all other impressions that an unjust authority would form there and in brief there is no duty nor obedience that can stand in competition with the powers of my Delia. The next morning I was hardly ready when Adrastus entred my chamber he was a man who had sometimes been my Governour and who afterwards by his vertue rendred himself one of the most considerable persons in Cilicia in the opinion of the King and of the whole Court I had a particular esteem for him and expected some consolation from his sight when saluting me with a visage which signified little satisfaction Sir said he I have lately left the King in such a choler against you as will difficultly be appeased by you if you do not conform your intentions unto his and your hindring of the order which he gave to Gesippus hath put him into the strangest humour that
that I interceed Sir she urges her departure more earnestly a thousand times than her most cruel enemies and if she would have permitted me to attend her neither she nor I Sir would have been in your Dominions You would have received more sensible displeasures if she had not opposed them and you are obliged to her Sir not only for serving your intentions more powerfully than you your self can do but for punishing me too by her disdain of me and of all that I can offer her more severely a great deal than you could do for my disobedience In brief Sir I desire either death at your hands or the liberty to see Delia I shall infallibly obtain either the one or the other and I am not so fond of my life without Delia but that I will sacrifice it at your feet as soon as you shall deprive me of all hope of prevailing with you I have stayed Gesippus as he was about to execute your commands and he could not have found a passage to go and do outrage to Delia but through my blood he still waits upon your will if that be not conformable to that which pity and the proximity of bloud inspire you within my favour you may be very well assured Sir that you are not like to have a Son long in the world All the while that I spake in this manner and when I had one speaking too the King walked up and down hastily he lifted up his eyes to Heaven and stamped with his foot and by all the gestures of his countenance expressed his indignation and the divers agitations of his soul The small disposition he saw in me to follow his inclinations and to satisfie the Queens desires by whom he was daily tormented put him into so much choler as made him partly forget what the nearness of bloud presented to him on my behalf and carried him out to more cruel resolutions than the former but at last as he really loved me and had placed all his hopes in me alone as his only Son he feared likewise the Tragical effects of my passion and perceived himself inclined to some indulgence towards me in spight of his own heart After that his irresolutions had a long time appeared in his countenance he turned himself suddenly towards me and breaking his long continued silence If I should hearken to reason said he to me rather than to fatherly infirmity which I cannot well resist I should make thee suffer such exemplary punishments as are due to thy disobedience rebellion and baseness but I will give thee a few days longer to reduce thy self to thy duty with less violence and to experiment whether thou canst do that by thy vertue which at last I will do by my authority when I perceive that my indulgence is unprofitable Having spoken these words after he had commanded Gesippus to retire he entred into his Cabinet without entertaining any longer discourse with me I saw Delia a little after and told her all that was passed not being able to conceal any thing from her and I found her in her ordinary humour from which she could never be unfixed upon any consideration Some days passed without any great Crosses as to me and the Kings choler though it was not extinguished seemed yet to be a little pacified He saw the Princess my Sister upon whom he cast a very severe countenance and made a very sharp complaint of her favouring me in my foolish affections Andromeda apologized for her self and protested to the King that it was none of her fault that my mind was not cured and that she employed all her perswasions to reduce me to the obedience I owed to him You should then said the King have sent Delia away from you since you knew that it was my design and you know well you cannot retain her contrary to my intention without displeasing me Sir replyed Andromeda I could not quit my self of Delia without making you lose the Prince my Brother and if your Majesty had seen the condition wherein he appeared to us every time I proposed it to him and that Delia pressed me to give her leave to be gone without doubt you would have judged as well as I that you could not deprive him of Delia without taking away his life But Andromeda answered the King your Brother has a design to marry her and that Maid who receives too much honour by being in your service raises her pretensions already to the Marriage of your Brother and to the Crown of your Ancestors I know not said the Princess whether my Brother hath any such intention but I can justly answer you for Delia that she will never give her consent without you and all those persons whom her birth hath given any command over her agree to it Whatsoever her Parents are added the King they will easily agree to this alliance and without their consent or mine a Crown hath lustre enough to dazle the eyes of a more constant mind than that Maid is of You are not yet acquainted with her Sir replyed Andromeda and she doth so much despise that dignity which you suppose is capable to blind her that it will never oblige her to any the least complacence towards it as long as she lives The King admired at Delia's vertue but his admiration reached no further than to astonishment and he did not cease to make me be tormented to tear that passion out of my soul by all manner of wayes I hardly visited Urania any more and if at any time I happened in her company I entertained her only with words of respect without intermingling any thing of love The Queen was so moved with despight at it that not being able to dissemble it she spake no more to me and looked upon me no otherwise than as an enemy but she continually whispered in the Kings ears that could not connive at the slight esteem I made of his will without entirely abandoning his authority and that he ought by all means to hinder me from making that unknown Maid Queen of the Cilicians She was not only of a proud and malicious nature but she had bad Spirits about her and I believe it was by their solicitation that I received the displeasure to which I saw my self exposed a few daies after The King after he had tried divers means in vain to cure me of my passion at last despaired of doing it and either out of the resentment he had of it or by the pernicious counsels of interessed persons he permitted his spirit to be enclined to things contrary to his nature through the desire he had to retire my heart from its agreeable servitude those who to please him or to follow their own inclinations had engaged themselves in Delia's service appeared no more and after the publick declaration of my love and usage I had shewed Antigenes there was none so bold as to present himself to her I visited Delia oftner than before I had quitted
However it was or whatsoever might be the cause but I was so ill within a few daies that they were in no less fear for me than before they had been for Delia. The King out of the real affection he had for me dissipated the hardness of his heart and came to visit me every day but as I accused him alone for my sickness and all the displeasures which had caused it so I could not willingly see him and I received his visits with little satisfaction The Queen her self to please him visited me divers times and the Princess Urania who bare her company whatsoever cause of resentment she might have against me out of an inclination worthy of her self and purely generous was afflicted at my sickness and interessed her self in the return of my health Andromeda never stirred from my pillow and for my greater comfort Delia pale as she was after her late sickness was often other with her One day that she was by my bed-side desiring to animate me to a recovery What Sir said she will you make no resistance against your disease for their sakes who desire your health and did you only interess your self so much in mine to cause me a too just displeasure by the absence of your own Ah! Delia replied I with divers sighs the Gods have taken notice that my sufferings were uncapable of prevailing with you and it hath been their will at last to put me into a condition which might move your pity I will not tell you that I die for you that discourse would have some appearance of a reproach and Heaven is my witness that I have no intention to make you any but I will tell you and truly too that I should receive death from what cause soever it might proceed with a great deal of resignation if by it I should not lose the means of seeing and serving you or if thereby I might draw from you more particular thoughts for me than those which you have discovered to me and if they were expressed to me by some efforts which proceeded from a little love as now they proceeded from your goodness only Delia at these words looked upon me with an eye full of the marks of her compassion and laying one of her fair hands upon mine which I held out of the bed Sir said she in the name of the Gods do not accuse me that the reasons which might justifie me to you are unknown to you you shall know them as soon as I shall be permitted to discover them to you and in the mean time believe with all manner of certainty that I will rather lose my life a thousand times than fail in the acknowledgement of your affections I only desire you to have a little patience if you love me you will prevail so far with your self for my sake and I protest to you before the Gods who hear us that as soon as I shall be in a capacity to declare so much to you without meriting your disdain you shall know that all my inclinations have not proceeded from good nature and compassion only I tell you more than with decency I may continued she with a little blush but I will pass by that for the repose of a Prince to whom I owe a great deal more The real love and respect I had for Delia made me find some comfort in these words and lifting her hand to my mouth though she endeavoured to hinder me I will not die said I seeing there is some hope left I will preserve my life if it be possible since you do not esteem of it as a thing indifferent Delia was not willing to make me speak any more for fear of doing me hurt and after she had confirmed to me what she had said by a gracious look she retired her self She was scarcely out of the Chamber but the King came in and having understood before he came near my bed that my disease grew every day worse and worse and that without flattering him they could not conceal from him that I was in great danger he drew near me full of tenderness and having found me in a worse condition than they had represented to him after he was fate by the side of my bed and had taken one of my hands which he pressed a great while between his without speaking My Son said he is it possible that you will let your self die 'T is time to die answered I since my life is odious to you Ah! Philadelph cried the King with tears that came into his eyes with that approach take heed the Gods do not punish you for the outrage you do me and believe the protestation which I make you before them that my own life is not so dear to me as yours Ah! Sir said I if that were so you would not have abandoned it those torments which have reduced it to that extremity you see and you would not see your Son ready to die under the cruel persecutions you have made him suffer No Sir continued I strugling with my weakness to express my resentments No Sir I could not live without Delia and seeing I was not permitted to think upon her without disobeying you and throwing her into the danger wherein I saw her a few daies since I have been willing to prevent this misfortune and the continuance of my disobedience by a death which is the dearer to me and which I heartily embrace since by that I shall be freed from the miseries to which my life was exposed I leave it without any other regret than this that it hath been disagreeable to you and I quit it the more willingly because it would be impossible for me to preserve it without the hope of bestowing it absolutely upon Delia. I uttered these words with a vehemence above my strength and the King having hearkned to them with a great deal of grief and tenderness fixed his eyes upon the ground and continued a long while without being able to reply At last after a great contest in his spirit having taken his resolution and turning his eyes towards me Philadelph said he 't is true I opposed the passion you had for Delia after I knew she did not only divert you from the designs I had for you but likewise that you had an intention to marry a strange unknown Maid of so different a birth from your own the reasons I had for it were so great that if you had never so little reason left your self you could not dis-approve of them and they are so well known to you that it is not necessary for me to repeat them No Philadelph there is no Father but would have done as much at least and would have employed his authority more publickly to divert his only Son and the Heir of a great Kingdom from a Marriage so unequal and unsuitable to his dignity Philadelph I would still give part of my Dominions to wean you from this resolution if it were possible and if you
could dis-engage your self from your passion you should know that I have a very rational interest in it to desire to hinder the prejudicial effects of it but if it be impossible for you to live without Delia and if by Delia's means only I can preserve my Son I will close my eyes to all reasons of State to save him and I had rather be blamed by my Subjects and Neighbours for this indulgence than to be any longer in danger of losing my Son Recover upon this assurance and receive the inviolable promise I give you that if after your recovery Delia be necessary for the preservation of your life or repose I will no longer oppose the affection and design you have for her At these words of the King I was seized with a transport of joy which in spite of the paleness which my sickness had caused was easily seen in my countenance and taking hold of the Kings hand which I kissed divers times with ravishment Ah! Sir said I 't is this day that I acknowledge you to be my Father and I am a thousand times more obliged to you for this second life which you give me than for the first 'T is certain Sir that the grace you do me is necessary for the preservation of my life and that it is impossible for me to live without Delia but Sir I may protest to you in requital of this goodness that you will never have cause to repent of it and whatsoever violence you offer for my sake to those considerations which my passion doth not permit me to take notice of you will find your recompence Sir in the acknowledgement of Delia and that strange Maid is endued with such qualities that her vertue will be one day more dear to you than all the alliances you could make with your neighbours I should have said more if the King who saw that I flew at random had not hindred me and retired after he had confirmed by oath the promise he had made me I was so satisfied with it that all the sickness of my body was dissipated by the contentment of my mind and it contributed in such a manner to my recovery that the next night my Fever in stead of being augmented by this days excess diminished very much and the Physitians by this amendment conceived such hopes of my life that they almost certainly assured the King of it The satisfaction he received upon that account confirmed him in the design he had conceived in my favour and the same day having met Delia in my Sister's company after he had accosted her with a countenance very different from what he had formerly shown her Fair Delia said he I have disputed your conquest too long with you but I will do so no more you are worthy of my Son and I leave him entirely to you as soon as he is recovered of his malady Delia blushed at these expressions of the Kings but she received them with a great deal of moderation and replied without being moved The gift of such a Prince as Philadelph cannot be but very precious to a person who esteems his merit and affection as she ought and if I were as free as he is now through your goodness I would let him know by all means possible that I am not ingrateful to the obligation I have to him What Delia added the King are not you free to express your resentments to my Son in the design he hath for you and have not you liberty enough to gain Philadelph and a Crown too boot 'T is not his Crown answered Delia that I look upon but I sufficiently esteem his person to grant him any thing I may without any other pretention if my duty did not bind me to render that to my friends in my own Country which he renders here to his and to desire of them the consent which the Prince had obtained of your Majesty The King was amazed at this discourse and looking upon Delia with admiration O Delia cryed he O Delia 't is this day that I acknowledge that you are worthy to be my Daughter and for that Vertues sake which you discover to me I shall never repent whilst I live of my indulgence to my Son See how the face of things was changed From that day forward the King having begun to take real notice of the vertue of Delia conceived such an esteem of her as made him a little after desire that which before he had so much feared and so much opposed and in stead of hindring it as he had formerly done he saw himself reduced by the desire he had of my recovery and repose to entreat Delia every day to love me and to offer her the Succession of a Crown which she slighted as not having charms enough to stagger her from the least of her resolutions The Queen seeing this change and being extraordinarily netled at the injury which she supposed was done to her Daughter would not suffer her to continue any longer in Cilicia but sent her back with a stately equipage to King Archelaus her Brother who had sent for her divers times She saw me before her departure contrary to the Queens intentions she graciously received my last excuses and assured me that she went away without any resentment against me Not long after I saw my self perfectly recovered and after the changing of the Kings mind finding my self free in the research of Delia I had nothing else to contend with but her self but then it was likewise that I met with the greatest difficulties and though she did not seem insensible of my love but flattered me with the sweetest hopes yet she kept her self constantly to the proposition she had made and to the design of expecting that from time which as she said was not yet in her power She had at that time a glorious revenge for the displeasures that the King had caused her and if she had been of the humour to draw any advantage from this change she would have had some pleasure to see that Prince make her every day such offers as she slighted and to be as forward to flatter her in my favour and to second the requests I continually made to her as he had been eager to torment as formerly At that time having no more complaints to make against others I often complained of her accusing her of her hard-heartedness and ingratitude to me but when I was most afflicted and most dissatisfied with her she quieted my spirit by the powerful Empire she had acquired over me and by the confirmation of the promises she had made me I lived in this manner enjoying the contentment of seeing her which was permitted me with all liberty and full of the hopes she gave wherein though I could comprehend nothing through the knowledge of her vertue I had a great deal of confidence when my Fortune raised me other business and employment Tygranes King of Media our Ally and near Kinsman as I have
advanced thee that puts thee besides the knowledge of thy self but know that I shall find ways to humble thee as much as I have unjustly advanced thee and that I shall lay thee so low if thou dost not cease from provoking me that possibly thou shalt serve for an example to those whom immoderate presumption makes to transgress the limits which their birth hath prescribed them Ending these words full of disdain and outrage to an heart like mine he turned another way without giving me time to reply I should have done it for all that how Tragical soever the reply would have been to me if Artamenes had not opposed it and with divers others of my friends which had been present at this conversation had he not led me to my Tent so inflamed with choler and transported that I was hardly capable of suffering the violence they did me with any moderation When I was in my Tent and that I had made a reflection of some few moments upon my adventure and the unworthy usage I received turning my self to Artamenes and those that were with him My friends said I to them behold me subjected to more outrage and indignity than I ought to expect from my services and besides the injurious words wherewith Artaxus had a mind to humble me I see my self by the death of these two unfortunate men which he is about to sacrifice to his cruelty exposed to the most sensible displeasure that my soul is capable to receive I do little esteem the words and disdain of Artaxus upon whom I never had any design to bottome my Fortune Henceforward the favours of a King is he is shall be less dear and glorious to me and I dis-esteem them too much to purchase them with the least compliance or to receive them when they shall be offered me but in things wherein my honour is engaged I will spend my blood to the last drop to defend it and though I should infallibly lose my life in this design I will leave nothing unattempted to save the two Cilicians whom I have imprudently delivered up to his cruelty All those that heard my words could not condemn my resolution but they saw me in no capacity to execute it and I was able to do it so little alone against Artaxus that all I could devise in this design proved but ridiculous propositions Artamenes endeavoured to represent so much to me and appeared interessed in my displeasure as much as a good and generous friend could be but he could not bend my spirit to an unworthy and base complyance with the intentions of a cruel ingrateful King and I could not conceal from him that I was resolved to arm a party of the Souldiery whose affections I might conceive I had gained and go and free the Prisoners by force from the place where they were detained or of I could not find sufficient courage and affection in the hearts of the Souldiers for so bold an execution I would go and make my self be killed in defence of these infortunate men whose death in my opinion ought eternally to be objected to me as a reproach Artamenes wanted no reasons to oppose against this resolution neither was he forgetful of them but our dispute was as unprofitable as any design and presently after I had quitted Artaxus this cruel man or rather monster of cruelty whether it were that his spirit was more exasperated by the resistance I made against his will or that he feared lest I should attempt and execute something for the safety of the prisoners sent the Executioners who beheaded them in Prison without any further delay The memory hereof makes me tremble as well for the compassion I had of the destinies of these two men and the horrour I have had all my life of cruel actions as for the reproach I might receive from my own conscience though I was innocent for having contributed to their destruction after I had promised them life and usage conformable to their condition Artamenes and the rest of my friends were still in my Tent when I received this news and I confess they saw me break out into discourses and actions wherein there appeared no remainder of reason which made them fear some Tragical event from the grief and choler which transported me In these first emotions I thought and threatned no less than to revenge the blood of those poor wretches upon the person of Artaxus from whose cruelty the remembrance of my services could not free them and if those which were present at these menaces had not been my real Friends upon the least intelligence given to Artaxus I had undoubtedly found the death I despised Artamenes would not abandon me and guarded me all that day as if I had been a mad man doing all he possibly could to quiet my spirit from these violences by his discourses indeed he made me abate the rashness of them and put me into more moderate terms than before but for all our friendship he did in vain oppose the resolution I had taken to quit the service of Artaxus for ever and to go over to the Enemy it the remembrance of the mischief I had done them would permit me to hope for a reception there I will sooner suffer a thousand deaths said I than continue any longer in the service of this Barbarian this blood-thirsty Tigre whom a man cannot serve without rendring himself a complice of his cruelties this ungrateful Prince who requites mens services with disdain rage and unworthy usage The only cause which might make me own his interests ought not any longer to engage me Arsinoe disdains me as much as her Brother and if I cannot cease from loving her yet I ought to cease from seeing and desiring to please her and to seek a cure far from her which possibly I may find in an eternal absence and in other employments than in suffering unprofitably at her feet Although in the complaints which I made against Artaxus I mingled some too against Arsinoe yet I know well how to put a difference between them and I did not confound the ingratitude and inhumanity of the Brother with the severity of the Sister who was really born with all the great qualities which might render a Princess accomplished I was not cured of my passion by the usage she had shown me but I was desirous to be cured and I did so confirm my self by the injuries which I received of her Brother that I not only desired but conceived hope to find repose in my mind by separating my self both from Artaxus and Arsinoe for ever My destinies whereby I was called to something more important than these beginnings of my life which I have related unto you gave birth to this design and it was by my destinies that I was disengaged from Artaxus and Arsinoe to be conducted into places where fortune was as advantageously serviceable to me as I could desire where I found honours and dignities above my
Justice alone that thou art stript of all and exiled wandring without retreat or place of safety but though these miseries are too light for thy crime they witness for me that I have not contributed to them and that I have had no more part in them than I had in those Kingdoms which thou hadst destined and didst offer with thy self to more happy persons Do not reproach me then with evils which I have never been the cause of and which I never so much as wished thee I am contented to accuse thee of ingratitude and unworthiness and to manifest marks of sorrow for thy shameful change which possibly thou hadst not deserved without wishing any greater punishment to thy treason than my forgetfulness and disdain But at last the transported Prince cryed out shall I not know this treason and shall I see my self condemned and condemned by a Judge whom I cannot call unjust without having any knowledge of my crime What replyed the Princess wilt thou still for a conclusion of thy perfidiousness deride her whom thou hast so unworthily abandoned and art thou not ashamed by a base and unprofitable dissimulation to make as if thou wert ignorant of a crime which thou hast manifested thy self to the whole world and which thou hast endeavoured to conceal neither from my knowledge nor from the whole Roman Empire Answered the Prince if it be known to me as without doubt it ought to be if I have so publickly committed it aggravate by your last reproaches which you will heap upon me for it the remorse I ought to feel and if not to inform me of it seeing I am not ignorant yet to convince me before this fair Lady which hears us let us understand from your mouth the treason which I have committed against you Artemisa who heard this dialogue with wonderful attention and suspense and did favour Coriolanus as much out of the esteem and amity which his presence might cause in all those which saw him as for the advantageous relation she had heard made of him a thousand times by her Alexander at this last discourse turning her self towards Cleopatra Sister said she to her this Prince demands so small a matter that if he were yet more criminal than you represent him you could not refuse it him and whether he makes himself ignorant or is so really you will do him but little favour when you shall set before his eyes the offence he hath committed against you Ah Sister replyed Cleopatra though this man little deserves any satisfaction how small soever and though you oblige me to a thing to me painful and unprofitable when you desire that I should inform him of that which he himself hath discovered to the whole world yet I will do it to please you and I would willingly make him blush if it be possible at the last reproaches I owe to his unworthiness The Princess was about to proceed and Coriolanus hearkning to her with all the confidence his innocence could give him expected from the end of this conversation either his death or his justification when she was interrupted by a great noise which obliged the Princesses to arise affrighted from the place where they were Their fear was not without reason and they were hardly got up upon their feet but they saw themselves set upon by ten or twelve horsemen which were in search of them who having left a party of their Companions engaged in Combat against them from whom the Princesses might hope for succour had run over part of the wood to find them out They had no sooner discovered them but that he which marched in the head of them cryed out with joy to his Companions See here they are and with these words having caused them to be environed on all sides he had no sooner cast his eyes a little nearer upon them but that he knew not only Cleopatra whom he fought for but the Princess Artemisa likewise He appeared astonished at this sight and recovering his speech after some moments of silence Ah my friends said he how happy are we to day Behold the Princess Artemisa she must accompany her whom we seek and our fortune will be accomplished He had scarcely uttered these words but four or five of his Companions alighted and whilst those which remained on horseback stopped the passage to hinder the flight of the two Princesses they advanced towards them to take them Coriolanus who since the moment that he had been interrupted had beheld their action without being astonished no sooner saw these enemies approach Cleopatra and Artemisa but he put himself before them and drawing his sword which at that time was all his arms he Presented himself in their defence The number of his enemies and the advantage they had over him of horse and arms was not capable to daunt him but only casting a look upon Cleopatra Madam said he to her this accident hinders my justification but the death I go to suffer for you without regret will possibly justifie me in part He had not ended these few words but that one of these Barbarians had already seized upon the daughter of Anthony but his boldness was fatal to him and the valiant King of the Moors giving him a blow with his sword upon the arm which he had advanced separated it from his body and put him into a condition to do no more outrage to that he loved After this blow with an admirable readiness he fell upon another who held the Princess of Armenia and finding free passage for the point of his sword whither he directed it he thrust into the hilts They which continued on horseback having seen the sudden fall of their companions advanced to revenge them and two amongst them spurring on their horses upon the valiantest Defender of the two Princesses had overthrown him with their shock if he had not been sheltered by a tree against which he threw himself from the foot whereof singling out one of the Barbarians in his passage he reached him with the point of his sword where his Curiasse was defective with so much success that he pierced him to the heart and made the Barbarian fall down dead to the ground From this place Coriolanus by his admirable valour might have defended his life but he heard the cries of the Princesses and seeing them between the arms of divers men he neglected his own safety to run to their defence Mars the God of War himself could not have performed actions like to those of this great Prince and his despair redoubling his forces made him pass amongst the Barbarians for a Daemon of valour or a whirle-wind which mingling it self amongst them with unconceivable fury presented death unto them on all sides where they would assail him O how might then incensed Cleopatra have found in these miraculous actions if she had the liberty of taking notice of them great occasions to be appeased and how well might she have judged that with so
it be so when you shall remember that we passed together the beginnings of your exile and that it was in the Court of the King of Armenia my Father where you took your first retreat you are then added Tyridates the Son of Artibasus King of Armenia I am replyed the Unknown Artaxus his eldest Son and the successor of his Crown At this knowledge of the King of Armenia Tyridates rising from his Chair to consider him a little nearer and remembring by little and little the ancient Ideas which time had blotted out of his memory Ah Sir said he what Fortune have I to have given you this poor retreat in exchange of that which I found in your house and how I am obliged to my Fortune since she hath given me-occasion to render some service to a King with whom in our youth I had framed so dear acquaintance It is a great comfort to me added the Armenian affectionately embracing him and I shall now with an entire confidence acquaint you with the particulars of my life and the secret of my affairs which have brought me hither and retain me here in this Country From these words they passed to an entertainment full of civility and mutual offers wherein the King of Armenia obliged Tyridates to give him a relation of his transactions which he did without speaking of his love which was the most important thing of his life and when Artaxus was satisfied in what he desired to know of him It is just said he I should make you a recital of those things which obliged me to quit my Kingdom to pass unknown into strange Countries I will do it after a short recapitulation of my life and though by some things which too just a resentment hath made me do possibly I expose my self to some reproach from a spirit whose inclinations have been all to sweetness yet I will pass over this difficulty to declare my self wholly to you and I will acquaint you with the pure truth without disguise or artifice The History of ARTAXUS King of ARMENIA I Will not speak to you at all concerning the first years of my life the beginnings whereof are passed away without any memorable event and you have learned the particulars of my education during the time you sojourned with us when flying from the cruelty of the King your Brother you took your first retreat at Artaxata You know the deplorable accident of our house and how by the cruel surprize of Anthony the unfortunate Artibasus together with the Prince Ariobarzanes my Brother and the two Princesses Arsinoe and Artemisa my Sisters was taken prisoner and led to Alexandria where after two years captivity he lost his head by the solicitation of the King of the Medes and the command of Cleopatra I was seventeen years of age when the King my Father was taken and during his Imprisomnent the Armenians having acknowledged me for their lawful Prince I employed all my power for the liberty of the King my Father and I forgot neither the solicitations of the Friends of Anthony to free him by fair means nor the way of arms wherein I joyned my self with Caesar his enemy to deliver him by open force In fine it was the will of the Gods and our unlucky destiny that this deplorable Prince against all manner of example and against all Law divine and humane died publickly by an infamous hand and left in his family not only grief and desolation but also too just subjects of eternal resentments for so bloody an injury and for an injury whereby the dignity of all Kings was unworthily violated I no sooner received the Crown which the Armenians presently after set upon my head but I received therewith most natural and most lawful desires of vengeance and upon the very day of my Coronation I engaged my self by a solemn oath to employ all my power even to the last drop of my blood to repair our disgrace and not to spare for any consideration either age or sex in any that should fall into my hands of the blood or alliance of Cleopatra or the King of the Medes A little after the Gods did in part revenge me and the satisfaction I received by the last misfortunes of Anthony and Cleopatra is so well known to you and to all the world that I need not speak of it to you The cruel persons perish by a just indignation of Heaven which sacrificed them to the Manes of the two Kings and to the complaints of so many persons upon whose ruine their power was established A little while after the wicked King of the Medes died miserably Tygranes his Son a young Prince of my age succeeded to his Crown and I saw my self without any other object of my revenge than the children of the horrible murtherers of Artibasus The misfortune of their Fathers which possibly might have satisfied me if it had happened unto them by my means alone being befallen them by other hands was not capable of contenting me and I continued in a most firm resolution to revenge my self of the outrage they had done me upon their children and whatsoever had any relation to them either of alliance or amity As for the children of Cleopatra I lost the means of my revenge by their retreat with Caesar and by the support they found with the Emperor the Senate and the people of Rome they had no Provinces left which I might waste with fire and sword for my satisfaction and to take it upon their persons I must force them in Rome it self and overturn the powers of the Empire and the Emperour which protected them with whom I had made an alliance very necessary for the conservation of my estate I was then constrained to turn my thoughts against the Son of the unfaithful Median and when I saw my self confirmed in my Kingdom I dreamed of nothing but War upon him and after very great preparations I entred into his Country with a considerable power where I began my vengeance by all manner of acts of hostility I will not entertain you with the particulars of this War the events thereof were a long time doubtful and two years past wherein much blood was shed on either side Fortune not absolutely declaring for either party The third year I had very great advantages which made me expect some part of that success I had desired I took Towns I gained Battels and the fourth year I hoped with all appearance for the entire ruine of my Enemy when the Gods fortified him with great succours and weakned me by the loss of single Man which was more hurtful to me than the loss of a good part of my Troops would have been The King of Cilicia and his Son with a great Army came into Media in defence of Tygranes their near Kinsman and a little after upon some effect of my revenge which I intended following my resolution upon all my Enemies having had some jar with Britomarus who at that time
sweetness as I could possibly I represented all things to him which might strike some horror of it into him with all the amity of a Sister and a rationality above my age But my endeavours were in vain and he parted from me protesting that death only should cure his love and that he would renounce his life if I would not preserve it for him by an affection equal to his own After this day he lived with me as a declared lover and though his Love partly blotted out of my Soul that friendship which nature had established there and began to render him odious to me as a man whose thoughts were detestable yet such was his Birth that I could not avoid him as I might have avoided any other person if I had had the design to do it and besides whilst I expected that time or reason or the Kings authority should procure some remedy I did all that possibly I could to conceal a thing of which as I thought half the shame reflected upon me and upon this consideration I could not openly express with what repugnance I received the Prince's visits because I would not divulge the cause yet I could not hinder it from being quickly known and he grew so blind in his passion that he lost all manner of discretion and by his ill conduct made all the court sensible of that which he should have concealed at the rate of his own life The King had knowledge of it by a thousand too visible marks and when I was no longer able to support the persecutions of my brother I took my last resolution to complain of him and to discover to my Father that which out of my care of his repose I had alwayes concealed from him When he was fully confirm'd in this knowledge and when upon the discourse he made me concerning it I was constrained to confess it my self to him he was transported with anger and testified his displeasure by divers marks which wrought no effect upon the Princes spirit He caused him to be called and after that he had signified to him with divers words full of sharpness the grief he had to see him fall into and persevere in so uncommon a crime he represented the deformity of it in such terms as were capable to reduce him to reason if he had been in a condition to hearken to them but after he had given a very quiet audience to the Kings discourse and surmounted the confusion which his reproaches might have caused in him making an effort upon the fear which the character of a father ought to have imprinted upon his Spirit Sir said he I wish with all my heart I were in a condition to testifie to your Majesty the submission I have to your will and I would strip my self of my strongest passions to render what is due from me to my Father and to my King if reason acknowledgment had preserved power enough over my spirit to retain it within the limits of its duty But Sir by the rigor of my destiny I see my self reduced to such terms that I have no power left to comply with you but only by making an end of my life if that be disagreeable to you 'T is true Sir that I love Olimpia and I love her in such a manner that nothing but death can free me from that passion which you condemn 'T is in this that my condition is more worthy of pity than reproach and seeing my self conducted by my ill Fortune to the love of a person of whom I am not beloved a love condemned as a crime by the King my Father I see no safety nor refuge for my self but in death alone nor will I seek it else where but since I am so unhappy as not to find pity neither in the Soul of a Sister nor of a Father I will escape by the only remedy wherewith my passion can inspire me from the long calamities to which it would expose my life if the course of it were not cut short by my final resolution He pronounced these words with so much violence that the King was so much troubled at them and feared some violent effect of his despair being well acquainted with his boyling and impetuous humour This fear made him act with the more sweetness to endeavor to reduce a Spirit which was not in a condition to be restrained by violence but all the things he could alledge to him to make him submit to reason were but in vain and his love as it seemed being spurred on by the resistance that it found grew stronger every day and by its augmentation augmented my displeasure I passed above a whole year in this condition that neither the treatments that I made him to extinguish his hopes nor the Kings dealing with him who from flattery when it was without effect oftentimes fell to threatning nor any humane consideration be able to remedy this disaster of our Family In fine the King believing that it was his last and surest expedient resolved to marry me to some one of the neighbouring Princes amongst whom there were divers that desired his alliance and he judged that by this separation from the eyes of my Brother his passion might be mortified and that all his criminal thoughts might be dissipated by impossibility when he had executed his designs I know not what would have happened thereupon if the poor Prince could have acted this resolution but to my misfortune it was hardly formed when he was seized by a violent Feaver which laid him in his Grave within ten dayes Before he dyed amongst divers instructions that he gave his Son for the government of the Kingdom he left him he exhorted him the most tenderly that possibly he could to quit himself of the love he had for me and threatned him with all manner of misfortune if he persevered in it Adallus seeing the King near his end dissembled his thoughts and feigning that he was moved with these expressions of his Fathers last will promised him all that he desired of him The King Preached to me too upon the same Text and expresly charged me never to suffer that his Family should be polluted with an incestuous Marriage But this command was not necessary and the horror of my Brothers intentions was so deeply engrave in my heart that I had no need of the King's sollicitations to dispose me rather to death than to his shameful consent The good King died to my great regret and his peoples grief whom he had governed with a great deal of Justice and sweetness I will not entertain you with the complaints which this loss caused me to make you may judge Ladies that they were excessive and besides the grief which the nearness of blood could not but make me sensible of in the loss of so good a Father I was particularly interessed by the loss of his protection who had till then defended me against the pursuits of my Brother He was publickly crowned in
Bizantium and he had handsome parts enough to give his people good hopes of his government he is comely of his person naturally endued with spirit and courage and if that irrational love and the effect it hath produced had not laid a blot upon his life that he will never be able to wipe off he would not be the least considerable amongst the Kings who at this day wear a Crown He began his government with the ordinary forms he rendred suneral honours to the King our Father with a great deal of magnificence and bestowed divers dayes about affairs of State and the establishment of his dignity giving me time to lament the death of my Father without interrupting me in that sad exercise by his persecutions And truly he made me conceive some hope that I might for the future be exempted from them and that the Kings last words oâ— the change of his condition had produced this effect upon his Spirit But I saw my self cruelly deceived in this hope and whereas before I had only the pursuites of a Brother to suffer who had no command over me I found my self subjected to the power of a King who demanded that of me with authority which before he had sought by the wayes of love and sweetness Yet the first marks he gave me of the continuation of his love were upon the former terms and he was minded to make use of the civilities of a Lover before he had recourse to the power of a Tyrant I will not tell you Ladies for my narration would be of too excessive a length all the amorous discourses that he made me divers months whereby he thought to change my mind and make me consent to marriage nor the answers I made him at that time to make him comprehend the foulness of the crime which he proposed and to imprint in his heart the shame of an action that would be detested by all the world He alledged to me instead of all reasons that Kings were not subject to the Laws they made themselves and that they governed themselves by other Maxims than they did their people At last having observed that the wayes of sweetness were to no purpose and that instead of expressing any desire to comply with his intentions I conceived every day more horror against his design he resolved to employ his authority and declared to me that seeing neither as a Brother nor as a a Lover he was able to move me either to love or pity nor make me consent to a thing whereupon the preservation of his life depended he was constrained to act as a King in his dominions and to seek his own safety by that power which the Gods and his own birth hath bestowed upon him At this cruel declaration I continued rather dead than alive and looking upon him with eyes that signified my grief and just resentment what Sir said I will you make use of Your authority to force your Sister to an action which will draw upon you the indignation of Heaven and the detestation of the whole World will you not consider that I am tyed to you by such a nearness of blood that you cannot desire any greater alliance with me without rendring Your self abominable And will you not call to mind that I am descended from too noble a blood as well as you to be exposed to that violence which is not practised against the meanest Subjects If I had any other wayes repyed Adallus to perswade you I should not have recourse to those you force me to make use of and you know your self that I have forgot nothing which was probably capable to prevail with you but in the extremity whereunto you have reduced me by the hardness of your heart either I must needs die or serve my self with the power which I have received from Heaven to serve my self Ah Sir replyed I transported with displeasure you will not die but this unfortunate creature which hath so unluckily troubled your repose and by her beauty such as it is reduces you to the necessity of committing horrible crimes will die without doubt if other means be wanting to deliver her from that authority with which you threaten her 'T was in you that I hoped to find protection against any forreign power but since the Gods permit that in the person of a Brother I find a persecutor and a cruel Enemy they leave me those wayes to free my self that are open to all the world The King was a little touched at these words but he was not a jot staggered in his resolution and looking upon me with an eye divided between submission and authority You have no reason said he to throw your self into despair for these testimonies of my love which any other person but your self possibly would not call persecution I think You cannot hope to marrie a Prince with whom Your condition would be better or more sublime than with me and as for the crime which You fear if there be any it will lye all upon me who cause You to do a thing contrary to Your incilnations by the power which I have in my Dominions This will be Your justification before the people and Your defence against the reproaches of Your Conscience which You fear I will not proceed to extremities whatsoever impatience I suffer from my love before I have once more tried the ways wherewith I have hitherto served my self and by which I hope I shall mollifie and change Your mind but when I have practised them a while to as little purpose as I have formerly done do not think it strange Sister that for the preservation of my life I make use of all my rights to work You to a thing which You ought willingly to embrace He left me half dead with grief at these cruel words and the tears which he saw in my eyes at our parting were not capable to move him to divert him from his cruel intentions I abandoned my self to sorrow all the rest of that day and for divers others and not being able to digest this violence from that person in the world from whom I ought to have feared it least I wanted but a little of throwing my self into Tragical resolutions What said I shall the Daughter of a King be used with such tyranny as is not exercised upon the vilest persons and shall that Brother whose power ought to secure her from violence and oppression be the person by whom she shall see her self exposed to outrage and indignity shall Olympia in whom the Gods have implanted some love to Vertue and inclinations averse from vice and thoughts though never so little criminal suffer her self by her weakness to be exposed to publick shame and the reproach of the whole World Ah! no Adallus no Tyrant for the name of a Brother is not due to thee because of the outragious violence which thou committest against a Sister who possibly was not unworthy of her birth neither dost thou deserve the
the confidence he had in Delia's words and the long experiences he had of her admirable vertue could not hinder him from looking upon him as a Tygre ready to tear his heart in pieces The brave Unknown highly courted him without being repulsed at his coldness and guessing somewhat nearly at the cause I hope said he that you will not be always insensible of the esteem I have for you and that you will bemoan me instead of hating me when you shall know that my ill fortune can move nothing but pity in such persons as you are He spake only these words to him holding him by the hand and being unwilling to interrupt him any farther breathing out a deep sigh he turned his horse towards Cornelius just as the company was arrived close by the gates of Alexandria Cornelius would willing have lodged this last company in the Palace of the Kings of Egypt with Elisa and Candace had it not been for Caesar's coming for whom all the lodgings were already taken up though Cornelius had left his two illustrious guests in theirs supposing that the Emperor himself would be well pleased that he had rendred this civility to the Heirs of the Crown of Parthia and he conducted them to one of the fairest lodgings in the City which he had sent one of his men before to take up for them The brave Unknown and Philadelph were compleatly armed but they had given their Head-pieces to their Squires and marched bare-faced through the streets of Alexandria The brave Unknown rode by Cornelius his side and his handsomeness drew upon him the eyes and the admiration of all that were present at his passing by amongst those a woman who with some others stood upon one of the Belconies of the Palace had no sooner looked upon him and viewed him a little while but without considering how many people were about her lifting up her hands and her eyes to Heaven O Gods cryed she O great Gods and at the same time being overpressed with some violent motion she lost her sences and fell down between the arms of those persons who were near her The fair unknown was not so far off but that this voice came consusedly to his ears and he took notice of the bustling of the people upon the Balcony that carried away the woman that swooned yet he did not hear the tone of the voice distinctly enough to discern it perfectly neither did he hear so little but that he presently felt an extraordinary emotion thereupon the Idea which was present in his memory carried the sound into the middle of his heart with so much trouble that it was taken notice of by Cornelius and not being able to dissemble it Am I a Fool said he changing his colour two or three times in a moment Agrippa making a stop to look upon him asked him if he found himself ill and the unknown endeavouring to recompose himself 'T is nothing said he but something must be indulged to a man whose imagination is a little crazed and who is not always himself As he spake these words he endeavoured to dissipate that which he attributed to his imagination and recovering his former condition as much as possibly he could he rode on and arrived with Cornelius at the lodging which he had designed for them Cornelius after he had given order himself for their accommodation with a care whereunto he was not obliged in relation to persons of a meaner quality than those of Soveraign dignity and had learned from Philadelph's mouth his birth and a small abridgement of his principal adventures returned to the Palace to dispatch divers affairs which were then upon his hands and more than upon any other consideration to see Candace and to render her some account of the diligence he had used in the service of Cleopatra wherein he had seen her interessed He found that fair Queen in the Princess Elisa's chamber where she had lain that night to discourse with her concerning the discovery she thought she had made of her dear Caesario Ever since that moment wherein that well-beloved countenance appeared to her eyes the Spirit of that great Princess could not recover its ordinary composure and all that an excessive joy yet moderated with a fear of being mistaken could produce in a soul had agitated her 's without intermission All that night sleep never approached her eyes and she experimented that joy was much more contrary to it than grief which ordinarily causes sleep and doth not keep the Spirits in that agitation which hinders the repose of the body The sad Elisa was constrained to watch a good part of the night to answer the Queens discourse and to give her the counsel she desired upon that adventure Candace was very uncertain what way to take to inform her Caesario of her condition and having no man near her whom she could trust with a secret of that importance she remained very much unresolved and ignorant what to do But however it was some comfort to her to know if her sight did not deceive her that her Caesario was at so little a distance from her and if the paleness which she had observed in his countenance did grieve her in relation to the bad condition of his health she assured her self on the other side out of a belief she had that in that case Caesario could not suddenly go far from Alexandria and so she should have what time she desired to make use of this adventure She was not likewise without some hope that the Prince had seen her from the window where he leaned and reflecting upon that thought If my Image be in his heart said she as his entirely possesses mine without doubt he saw me and know me and he did not fix his sight so much upon the persons of our company and our train but that he discerned amongst the number her who not long since was the object of all his thoughts and all his affections From this brief reasoning with her self she passed to a consultation with Elisa how to find out some means to help her self and after she had sufficiently meditated upon it she believed it could not be better done than by the assistance of Prince Tyridates to whom she was already beholding for her life whom she had acquainted with part of her adventures and whom she knew to be very generous and well affected to her interests Upon this thought addressing her self to Elisa My fair Princess said she the Prince Tyridates your Uncle is a Prince so vertuous and so worthy of the esteem of all his relations that you cannot without injuring your self neglect the opportunity of knowing him and I should be ingrateful for the obligation I have to him if I should not contribute what I could to the making of you known to each other though he discovers himself to few persons and especially to those of Phraates his family I assure my self he will take it well at my hands when I shall
expressed to me in all his actions and all the Apologies he often made me for those things which he was constrained to do in obedience to the Kings command I believed he had absolutely lost that intention which he only pretended for fear of incurring the Kings displeasure and I as easily imagined that he would acquit himself of his commission with more affection than another that by that means he might the better gain his Prince's favour At last I disposed my self to depart under his conduct after the King had assured me of his fidelity and discretion and after I had taken my last leave of the Princess Andromeda with a great many tears upon both sides and received from the King all the testimonies of love and good will I mounted with my Governess and Melite into a Chariot which the King caused to be provided for us and Antigenes accompanied us on horseback being attended by seven or eight Men in the same equipage The good usage I received from the King your Father after your departure the endeavours he used to retain me and the belief I owe to the word of a King and of a King who is the Father of Philadelph alwayes hindred me from suspecting the Treason that was practised against me which might proceed only from the villany of that Person which committed it or if it was by any order I never accused any body for it but the Queen your Step Mother who hath alwayes born a great deal of resentment against me for being though innocently an hindrance to your marriage with the Princess Urania her Daughter Howsoever it was we departed from Tharsus and travelled the first Stage the direct way to Armenia but the next morning without being perceived by me by reason of the little knowledge I had of the ways Antigenes made us take one quite contrary and having no body with him but such persons as he absolutely disposed of he followed his premeditated way without being opposed by any body in his intention All that day I mistrusted nothing marching under the faith of my Conductor and not suspecting any such infidelity in a man in whom the King had reposed so much confidence but the next day I was amazed when I saw my self upon the Sea side and saw a Vessel that waited for us by Antigene's private order into which he told me I must enter Though I was so ignorant of the Country as not to perceive the first cheat they put upon me yet I was not so simple but that I knew well enough that to go the direct way out of Cilicia into Armenia there was no Sea to pass and I had seen in the Map and had often heard that the way lay by Land crossing over Mount Taurus and entring into Armenia the less I presently let Antigenes know as much and refused to enter into his Vessel telling him I knew very well that was not the way to Armenia Antigenes at first would have amused me with words and have made me believe that I was mistaken in my Map but when he saw me stedfast in my opinion and that he had no hope to get me into his Vessel by his discourse and perswasions he took me under one arm and making one of his companions do so by the other these two men carried me by force and put me into the Vessel my words my cries and all the resistance I could make not being able to save me from it They which followed did as much by my Governess and Melite and they were not much troubled to do it finding them fully resolved to follow me into what part of the World so ever my ill Fortune should conduct me In conclusion they stript the Chariot and the Horses and after they had hoised up their sails they commanded the Pilot to steer towards the Island of Cyprus which as You know is separated from Cilicia but by a little arm of the Sea You may judge very well Philadelph without my striving to represent it to You what my grief was upon the knowledge of this cruel Treason and with what fears I was seized seeing my self in the power of a man who had the confidence of committing this disloyalty I am not naturally apt to be over-passionate and if I may say it of my self I patiently support the assaults of my bad fortune but in this unlucky adventure by which I was become the prey of a Traytor and of a Man who by this action made me sufficiently judge him capable of any thing that might afflict me I lost my constancy and moderation and looking upon perfidious Antigenes with eyes inflamed with indignation Traitor said I to him is it thus that thou acquittest thy self of what thou owest to the fear of the Gods to the command of thy King the interest of thy Prince and the honour of our Sex are all the considerations of honour fidelity and vertue extinguished in thy soul or if they have no power to set the horror of thy crime before thy face dost thou not fear to be punished for it by so many Enemies as thou raisest against thy self by thy infidelity Madam answered the disloyal man I hope to be pardoned by Gods and men and your self too for the offence which you reproach me with and the Gods will not be angry with me for it seeing they themselves have visibly contributed to it Do not judge Madam by the constraint which I laid upon my self in respect to Philadelph that the love which formerly I expressed to you is either extinguished or diminished it was never so strong and so violent in my soul as now as you may judge by this action seeing it makes me to despise all that any other man might fear in relation to the anger of the King and Prince Philadelph and abandon all things to confine my self with you in a place where without any obstacle or disturbance I may give you testimonies of that love which you have so much disdained Fear not Madam nor afflict your self your destiny will not be bad with a man who adores you and you ought not to grieve for a Prince whose inclinations possibly are already changed nor for a Crown which you never would have possessed and which you quit your self of by retiring into Armenia To these words the perfidious man added a great many others to cause some moderation in my grief but it was exasperated the more by them and throwing a look upon him that partly signified my intention Do not think said I to him do not think thou monster of infidelity that thy base flattery can gain any thing upon my Spirit thy person which before I did only disdain is now made as odious to me by thy treason as the most detestable man in the world and my most cruel Enemy Do not hope that these thoughts may be changed but only by the repenting of thy crime and returning into the way by which thou promisedst thy King to conduct me into
my own Country and be well assured that whensoever thou shalt add violence to thy flatteries thou shalt see that I can so much despise death that the face of it shall be much more supportable to me than thine Though Antigenes might partly have known my humor in the time I had staid in Cilicia and have observed a great deal of constancy in my resolutions yet he believed I might be changed in time and being willing to let the heart of my first resentments cool he ceased from afflicting me any farther with his discourse 'T is very certain that in this encounter I had need of that little courage and strength of Spirit which the Gods had bestowed upon me and had it not been for the resignation I had to their will I should have died rather than have any longer patiently endured the misfortune whereinto I was fallen Ericlea and Melite though they were well acquainted with my humor yet they did not so much trust to it but that they alwayes kept close to me to hinder me from attempting any thing against my own life They did not see me any way go about it but they had much ado to make me take any nourishment and I rejected all as poyson which my infamous Ravisher caused to be offered to me In fine they represented so many things to me and did so plainly convince me that I ought to commit the conduct of my destiny to the Gods and that I might still hope for the succour after the example of divers persons who in as miserable a condition as mine had received visible assistances from them that at their intreaty I took something after I had fasted almost two dayes We passed the Streight which separates Cilicia from the Island of Cyprus and being landed in that Island Antigenes put us again into the Chariot and with the same violence as before carried us whither he pleased He chose this retreat because his Kindred were originally of this Island and his brother dwelt there to whose house it was his design to carry me supposing that the news could never come to the King your Father nor to you and that being born of an obscure and unknown family there would be no body to enquire after me or ever think upon me after I was gone out of Cilicia Besides if you should know the truth he believed he was secure being out of the Dominions under your obedience and if he could conceal it as he hoped he should by the distance of place and the separation by Sea he had the conveniency to return to Tharsus leaving me with his brother where he thought me secure and report to the King that he had executed his commission In conclusion whatsoever his thoughts were or howsoever I could express to him that he should never gain any thing upon my Spirit either by fair means or by violence he carried me to his Brother's who was as bad as he whose house was scituated upon the bank of the River Lapithus in a place very solitary and proper for his intention He was received there according to his expectation and I was treated there as a person whom they desired to pacifie with their caresses You are willing Philadelph as I suppose that I should relate these passages the most disagreeable of my whole life as succinctly to you as I can possibly and you will content your self that I should tell you without descending to the particulars of all the discourse I had with this perfidious man that he forgot nothing which he thought was capable to perswade me and dispose me to his intentions He made a proposition of marriage to me as a great advantage for me and would have made me believe that my condition should be very happy with such a man as he who passionately loved me and was Master of no mean fortune that in time he should make his peace with you and the King your Father and might recover all the possessions and dignities which he had in Cilicia and which he forsook only for my sake but I rejected his proposition with so much scorn that he not being able to endure such usage which judging of my birth as he did he imputed to an unjust pride from fair means he fell to threatning and made me fear all things from the violence of his passion and the power he had over me You must have a Kings son said he to me sometimes in his choler and you will look upon no body under a Crown and such a Prince as Philadelph This ambitionis very laudable Delia but you may be very certain that Philadelph dreams no more of you and if the King his Father had had any care of it he would not have committed you to the conduct of a man whose love and intentions were known to him He spake divers other words to perswade me that the King your Father was not ignorant of what had befallen and that you would make no account of it when you knew it but besides the little disposition I had to suspect either of you of that infidelity I thought so ill of every thing that came out of such a man's mouth that I gave no credit at all to it Melite when she saw him transgress the bounds of respect would have had me declare the truth of my condition to him and I was often almost resolved to do it but I considered at last that this knowledge in stead of making him respect me the more would have rendred him the more bold to injure the Sister of Artaxus out of hope of being easily pardoned by the King of Cilicia whose hatred was so cruel against our family or possibly if he could not work me to his will he would put me himself into the Kings hands from whom I might expect the worst that could be if I were known to be the Sister of Artaxus He kept me in this manner above two moneths at his brothers house who being as bad or worse than he employed every day both prayers and threatnings to make me change my humour But neither of them could prevail and the wicked Antigenes after he had tryed both wayes in vain at last slew out to the extremities of insolency and villany and let me know the perfidiousness of his intentions in a business that threatned me with manifest danger if the Gods had not succoured me I am going now to relate to you without any farther delay the most disagreeable passages of my story I was permitted to walk upon the bank of the river which washes the foot of the house and in a great wood which environed it on every side but never without having with me either Antigenes or his brother named Thrasillus or many times both of them with six or seven men at their heels One day attended by this convoy having followed the bank of the river where the walk was very pleasant and being gone farther from Thrasillus's house than ever I had been before drawing near
much moved Do not imagine that this difficulty can make me lose my Courage you shall see me Conquer far greater if you be pleased to grant your consent and all the most powerful and dangerous obstacles shall not be able to terrifie me if you do not oppose me You ought not to hope said I that I should be favourable to you contrary to my Duty and the esteem which I may have for you shall never make me do any thing unhandsome or not conformable to the Rules prescribed to persons of such a Birth as mine Ariobarzanes seemed a little astonished at this Discourse and stood a while as if he studied for terms to express himself but at last breaking silence with a very passionate action If the respect which I shall equally preserve with my life said he did permit me in the least to contest with your thoughts I would take the liberty to tell you that by the usage you have received from him and the horrible intentions he had expressed to you the King your Brother hath absolutely lost the priviledge which Nature gave him to dispose of you and if your self had had a design to leave it to him you would not have run the hazard of mortal dangers to avoid his Tyranny In fine If he may and must dispose of you he will never do it but in his own favour and you will see your self reduced to the necessity either of consenting to that horrible Marriage which he proposes to you or denying his power to dispose of you I found sufficiently convincing Reasons in Ariobarzanes's Discourse yet it being a Subject upon which I was alwayes prepared I did not continue without a Reply It will be very lawful said I for me to oppose Adallas's will as long as he shall have any design to be my Husband and in this resolution I shall alwayes have Courage enough to suffer this death to which I am already sufficiently exposed but I will never take the liberty to choose a Husband my self and I must wait the leasure of Heaven for the change of my Brothers humor or some other condition of my Affairs which may give me that liberty I will be contented to wait with you Madam replied the Prince with a very submissive Action and I shall be but too happy if you permit me to engage my life upon the account of those changes I know very well that the happiness which my Ambition aims at is of too high a value to be attained by ordinary difficulties and it shall be without a murmuring thought that I will attend upon the effects of your pity to the last period of my breath use me as a criminal if you see me in any impatience contrary to this resignation and in the mean time if you be pleased to think well of it and if Heaven permits us to get out of this Island by some unexpected succour let me have the honour to wait upon you to the place of your intended Retreat and there let me regulate my life according to the Orders which you shall please to give me and seek some means though with the greatest hazard to work a change in the King your Brothers intentions to my advantage or to see some change in yours if his be unalterable My Relation would be too long if I should repeat to you all the words we had together In brief I found the Discourse and the Propositions of Ariobarzanes too just to be contradicted and we resolved at last that if the gods should send us any means to save our selves I should continue my journey to the Court of the King of Cilicia my Uncle whither Ariobarzanes should accompany me and there leave me at liberty to consider what he might merit of me by his Services whil'st he endeavoured by all manner of wayes to gain upon the spirit of the King my Brother and employed all manner of powers even that of Augustus himself to cause him to consent to the design he had to serve me But because Ariobarzanes knew the deadly hatred which the King of Cilicia had against his Family for some Cruelty that the King of Armenia his Brother had exercised against the Princes his Nephews and was not ignorant that in that Court he could not be in any security We purposed that he should enter into Cilicia al' incognito and from that moment should conceal from the persons of our Company his name and condition under that of Ariamenes This was so much the easier because he had not as yet discovered himself to any but to us and there was little danger of his being known after the Report of his Shipwrack had been so long current After that we had spent some time in fixing these Resolutions I desired Ariobarzanes to acquaint me by what Adventure he had been cast upon that Rock in the condition wherein we found him which he did in a few words which I will not repeat to you for in brief his Relation contained nothing else but only that the King Artaxus his Brother having received a Command from Augustus to send him to Rome with the Princess Arsinoe his Sister to be educated there with a great many other Princes and not daring to disobey that Order caused him to imbark with the Princess his Sister to go that Voyage which at first was prosperous enough but at last upon the Coast of Cilicia their Vessel was overtaken with the same Tempest that cast away ours and so battered by the impetuousness of the storm that he believed himself only to have escaped from the fury of the waves by means of a Plank which he laid hold on and the violence of the waves which drave him upon the Sand. That passage of his Discourse which he most insisted upon was concerning the Shipwrack of the Princess Arsinoe whose loss after he had made us a short description of her rare qualities he deplored with so many tears and so many strong sensible signs of grief that I could not forbear weeping and bewailing with him the loss of so extraordinary a person whom he had so dearly loved He protested to me divers times that nothing but Love which tookfull possession of his Soul at first sight was able to counterpoize his grief and without the assistance of that passion which made it self Mistress of his heart above all the rest that had any room there he should scarcely have had strength of spirit enough to defend himself against this affliction After I had endeavoured to give him some part of the Consolation which was necessary for him upon this occasion he described to me the birth of his Love which he protested to me was formed in his Soul the first moment of our first interview and in the declaration he made to me of all his most particular thoughts he expressed himself with such a grace and was so skilful in taking his advantages where he found me weakest that I perceived the fatal inclination I had for him to be
without redoubling his Jealousie which might have broken out into Tragical effects yet my looks which I did not retain with so much Circumspection as in the Kings presence did partly declare my thoughts to him and fearing lest they should fail in the discovery of my mind one time when I saw his eyes fixed upon me I took my Bodkin out of my Head and making as if I played with it and made some letters upon one of the boards of the Vessel after I had mused my self in that manner for a while at last I wrote my intention there in a few words making him a small sign with a private wink that when I was gone from thence he should come and read what I had written Ariobarzanes easily apprehended my design and coming into the place a little after I was gone he did not fail to look what I had written and though the letters were ill made upon the wood yet he made a shift with some trouble to read these few words Bridle your great Courage if you love me endure any thing at the Kings hands so long as his resentments go no farther then words and endeavour to gain his heart by submission and services Ariobarzanes read these words which immediately after he scratched out with a Bodkin only subscribing I will obey In the mean time we were all intended upon by the Kings Officers and though they knew the resentment he had against Ariobarzanes they could not choose but love him for his rare qualities remembring the wonders he had done in their defence to which they were sensible that they were beholding for their lives That little of the day which remained and the Night following past away before we saw the King again there being another Cabin in the Vessel whereinto I was put with my Maids and Ariobarzanes being accommodated amongst the men who all looked upon him with Veneration The next day the Chyrurgions seeing that the Kings wounds grew worse and knowing that the Sea and the agitation of the Vessel were naught for him they told him that he must of necessity land at the nearest Port and continue there till his wounds were in a better condition if he would not put his life in great danger Adallas received this News with impatience and yet he was nessitated to resolve upon it and being not far distant from the Coasts of Cilicia and the Island of Cyprus he commanded the Vessel to put in to land with all speed not in Cilicia for he knew that there it was where I would have chosen my retreat and he was afraid to see the King our Uncle who probably would not have approved of the wicked intentions he had for me but in the Isle of Cyprus where in the next Town he might attend the cure of his wounds Yet he ordered his men to conceal his Name and not to discover him to any body during all the time he should be forced to continue there This order being given and the Vessel being turned that way the King made me be called and after his first Discourses which were still of the ordinary stile and that he had told me that he had resolved what to do with Ariamenes whom he knew by that Name he commanded him to be brought into his Chamber The Prince came in and opproached his Bed with a countenance which were no marks of fear and which caused admiration and love in all those that saw him The King looked upon him a while without speaking and then beginning to discourse with a more composed action than the day before Ariamenes said he The gods are my Witnesses that I look upon the benefit which I have received from thee in such a manner that if it were not counterpozed by the outrage thou hast done me I have neither Estate nor Dignities no not so much as a Crown but what I would make thee partaker of as my Deliverer and the Preserver of my life And the same gods know likewise that the offence which I have received from thee doth so sensibly move me That if it were not equalized by the greatness of the Service which thou hast rendred me there is no consideration or humane power which could hinder me from taking away thy life I have therefore been obliged to seek out a middle way between the offence and the benefit to moderate the resentments which are due to both and seeing I am not permitted to destroy my most cruel Enemy because he is the Defender of my life I do not owe that acknowledgment to the Defender of my life which I intended him because he is my greatest and most cruel Enemy Know then that I acquit my self of the obligation which I have for the Service which thou hast rendred me in leaving the thy life and liberty offering thee according to my promise the conveniences of conveying thy self into any part of the World whither thou wouldest retire except my Dominions and I satisfie my revenge and my repose as much as I can by withholding the Recompences which I designed for thee in my Court by forbidding the ever to set foot in any part of the World where thou may'st see Olympia 's face again and protesting to thee by all the powers of Heaven that all the powers upon Earth shall not save thy life if after this prohibition thou fallest again into my power in my own Dominions prepare thy self therefore to be gone as soon as we come a shoar and demand any thing that may be necessary for thy Equipage or Conduct but remember that our separation must be eternal and that thou can'st not ever dream of seeing Olympia again without exposing thy self to an inevitable death Adallas spake in this manner and I trembled all the while that his Discourse lasted but Ariobarzanes hearkned to him without changing his countenance or shewing any sign of passion though he laid a great deal of violence upon himself to obey the command which I imposed upon him to endure the Kings threatnings with patience and when he had done speaking the Prince looking upon him in a resolute manner Sir said he I never did you any injury nor have I rendred you any Service but what you have already requited and as my death ought not to satisfie for those outrages wherewith you reproach me seeing it is certain that you never received any from me so you owe me no Recompence for having exposed my life for the defence of yours seeing you saved my life afterwards by freeing me from a place where in all probability I should quickly have seen an end of it By this only benefit I acknowledge my self paid for the Service I have rendered you and I acquit you of it desiring nothing else of your liberality but the liberty you have offered me to retire into any Dominions but yours and to a place whither it shall please the gods to conduct my Destiny He would not speak any more for fear of letting fall some word that
cruelly threatned him Besides Is it reasonable that I should desire the return of that poor Prince And if I love him really ought I to desire that to come and see me he should throw himself into such a manifest danger Ah! No Ericia let us never hope it let us never desire it and let us seek our utmost consolations in our tears As I ended these words I shed a great quantity of tears and all that the poor Ericia could alledge to me did but very little diminish my grief 'T is true that having accustomed my self from my infancy to an absolute resignation to the will of the gods I endeavored to practice it in this Adventure and in that indeed it was that I found some ease alwayes hoping that the Divine goodness would favour innocent designs or at least would give me constancy enough to support whatsoever it had resolved as to my destiny Lingring out my dayes in this manner two whole Months were slip't away before the Kings wounds were cured and he was not yet in a condition to go to Sea again when the two men whom he had sent into his Kingdom returned back in the same Vessel which he had furnished them with and brought him the saddest and the most unpleasing News that he could receive which was in a word of a general commotion and almost the total loss of all his Dominions This hapned in such a manner as I am going to relate to you in a few words The King Adallas our Father was not setled in the possession of Thrace till after he had had great War with a Neighbouring Prince Sovereign of Taurica Chersonesus and pretending to the Kingdom of Thrace by a great many Reasons that he alledged saying That he was descended from the lawful Kings of that Kingdom and quarrelling upon these pretensions with the King my Father as an Usurper divers persons affirmed that his pretensions were just enough and grounded their Discourse upon very probable Arguments but howsoever it was there was a great deal of blood shed in this quarrel and though the King my Father was more strong in men and had larger Dominions than his Enemy the events of the War were a long while doubtful and possibly it would not have been ended a long time if Anthony had not interposed his Authority to bring them to agreement a little before that War wherein he decided the Empire of the Universe with Augustus and in which the King my Father kept him faithful Company and served him with his Person and his Forces These two Princes either willingly or out of fear remitted their interests into Anthonies hands who being favourable to our Family dismissed the King of Chersonesus from the pretensions he had to the Crown of Thrace yet leaving him a small part of that Kingdom joining to Chersonesus which his Father and all his Predecessors had alwayes possessed by means of a Tribute which they annually paid to the King of Thrace which he obliged him to pay as before After this Accord my Father continued peaceable in his Dominions and the King of Taurica though he thought himself ill-used lived at peace with his Neighbour whom he knew to be more strong than he but he dyed almost at the same time that the King my Father did and left his Dominions to a Son which he had almost of the same Age with the King my Brother a fierce and haughty man but of exceeding Valour and born with all the necessary qualities for a great Warrior He had already acquired great Reputation in the War which the Queen of Dacia made in Scythia And though he had some disadvantage against the Valiant Alcamenes Prince of the Scythians and had been constrained to renounce the pretensions he had to the Princess of Dacia 't was certain for all that that he had rendred his Name famous by a hundred gallant Actions This Prince named Merodates being not contented with what was allotted him but complaining of the injustice which was done him by the judgment of Anthony after the death of my Father was oftentimes upon the point of taking up Arms to begin the War afresh upon the old pretensions of his Family but he saw himself unequal in Forces and though he was rash enough yet being prudent withall he dissembled part of his designs in expectation of an occasion to discover them when he should be in a condition publickly to undertake the execution of them endeavouring in the mean while to gain and keep some intelligences in Thrace and sowing the seeds of Discontentment and Rebellion in the minds of the Thracians who are naturally inconstant and unfaithful and to whom besides I know not by what misfortune my Brothers Government was not very agreeable Adallas having had some suspition of Merodates's practices and seeing him otherwise very slow and backward to pay him the Tribute which he owed him for the Lands which he permitted him to possess in Thrace after he had caused it to be sharply demanded of him and not receiving present satisfaction he sent his Troops into those places which he held in Thrace and they being ill furnished for defence against the Forces of a mighty King Adallas quickly made himself Master of them and absolutely dispossessed Merodates leaving nothing in his power within the limits of Thrace After this Adallas might believe that his Enemy would lose no opportunity he could meet with to revenge himself and knowing him to be haughty and full of Courage he had a reason to fear him or at least not to leave him in a condition to express his resentments and yet the gods whom the unlawful passion of the King my Brother had provoked against him permitted him to be so blinded That he did not only neglect to put himself into a condition to keep his Enemy within his limits but as destiny would have it a little while after I flying from his Court and Kingdom as I have related to you his passion did so transport him and did so close his eyes against all other considerations that without foreseeing the evils which apparently threatned him he committed the whole Government of his Dominions into the hands of his Favorite Eurimedes and running whither his Folly carried him He went to Sea with one single Vessel and being attended only with a hundred men taking no greater Equipage with him which might discover him in the design he had to search all the Seas all incognito till he had met with me He had been two Months at Sea to no purpose when he landed at the little Island where we had suffered Ship-wrack and as I told you we had stayed two Months in Cyprus when these two men came back to us and brought us News of the Disasters which in those four Months were hapned in his Kingdom They informed us then That a little after his departure Merodates seeing so fair an occasion for his revenge and for the recovery of his Countrey came in with all
continually encourage the industry of his Mariners We had already passed by Apolbusa Eramnusa and Cholidonia we had Coasted Rhodes and Doris upon the right hand and left Crete behind us upon the left hand when as we were sailing forward amongst the Isles called the Cyclades the gods who were really angry with Adallas were pleased that we should be surprized with a furious Tempest which after it had tossed our Vessel divers dayes with great danger of our lives made us turn back the same way and constrained us to land in the Isle of Crete The King my Brother almost dyed with displeasure when he saw himself so cruelly crossed in his intentions but he had cause enough to exercise all his patience when he was forced to wait above six weeks in Crete till the wind which all that while was contrary to us changed to a favourable point and gave him opportunity of putting to Sea again You need not doubt but that this obstacle put him almost in despair and seeing that above two Months were slip't away since he had received intelligence of the unfortunate condition of his Affairs he had reason to fear that they were grown much worse and that his Enemies had gained time enough to corrupt the Fidelity of his Subjects or to reduce them by force to the utmost extremities He received News in Crete too whereas in other places he continued always concealed and the wind which opposed our going towards Thrace being very favourable to them who came from the Coasts of Thrace into Crete gave him opportunity oftentime to see some persons who could give him a confused Relation of that which came to their knowledge by the general Report concerning the estate of his Kingdom They told him that all things there were in a far greater disorder than before that Eurimedes Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom having been constrained to come to a second Battel was defeated and himself killed upon the place and after this last Victory Merodates had hardly found any resistance in the Field only they thought that the City of Bizantium and the Country thereabout continued faithful and in a defensive posture by his care who having been Eurimedes's Lieutenant a little before his death had since succeeded him in his charge and as they said defended those small remainders with a great deal of Valour Adallas had much ado to dissemble his grief before those who made him these Reports not knowing who he was and in the impatiency which tormented him he would possibly have sunk under his sorrows if that foolish Love which did predominate in his Soul above all the other passions had not made him lose or at least laid aside some part of the sensibility which he might have for all other Affairs At last after six weeks expectation as I told you before the wind which had been so directly opposite to us giving place to that which we had so much desired we went to Sea again and continued our Voyage with our former diligence We quickly recovered the Cyclades we left Eubea upon our left hand and sailed on in the Egean Sea But when we were past the Isle of Lesbos the King understanding by the Discourse he had heard That he could not land in safety in any part of Thrace but only at Bizantium which continued faithful to him still he was very much troubled to think what way he should take And it was not without reason that he was so sollicitous seeing that to get into the Straight of Bizantium he must of necessity sail all along the Coast of the Taurica Chersonesus which was his Enemies Countrey and pass through all the Hellespont to enter into Propontis which he could not do without a great deal of danger there being no doubt but that his Enemies had Ships at Sea either to take him or destroy him there and he almost certainly believing as indeed the Truth was that the Encounter which he already had at Sea whereby he was reduced into such great danger was with the men which Merodates had sent out upon that design He was forced for all that to resolve upon something and seeing no other means to land being naturally very Couragious he ventured the passage and upon this occasion either by his good Fortune or the negligence of his Enemies who left the Sea free having enough to do at Land the gods were favourable to him and we sailed through the Straight along all the Coast of Chersonesus and entred into Propontis without meeting with any opposition When we were past the Straight we kept out at Sea and sailed at a further distance from the Coast for fear of falling into the Enemies hands not knowing which way to get to Bizantium without great danger We continued two dayes in this uncertainty and the third day we discovered a Vessel which made towards us Adallas was in doubt a while whether he should come near it or no because of the danger there was of meeting Enemies sooner than Friends but his Affairs being in a condition which obliged him to venture very much and that without hazarding himself there was little probability for him to recover that which he had lost he determined to try his Fortune and to enquire of those persons who were in the Vessel in what condition the Port of Bizantium was and by what means he might land there in case he found them to be his Friends and faithful Subjects and if they were his Enemies he resolved to fight them With this Resolution he advanced towards the Vessel which coming directly to us and no way avoiding us afforded us all the facility we could desire of coming near to it There was immediately a signal of Peace given from our Ship and the other having returned the like they both came close up to each other and the persons which were on Board began to speak one to another but Sosias who was the most considerable man about the King no sooner saw the Captain of the other Vessel but he knew him to be Nicocles one of his familiar friends and one of the Kings faithful Servants Upon this happy Encounter Sosias after a joyful Exclamation called Nicocles by his Name and he had no sooner made himself known to him but Nicocles who knew very well that Sosias went from Bizantium with the King running to the side of his Vessel Sosias cryed he Where is the King Where is the King At these words the King who had concealed himself behind some of his Servants knowing the person and the affection of Nicocles came out before them and discovering himself to him Here he is Nicocles cryed he Here he is Nicocles being not mistaken either in the voice or countenance of his Prince immediately leaped into our Ship followed by the principal of his Companions and embracing the knees of his King with tears of joy he gave him to understand That all Fidelity was not extinguished in his Subjects hearts The King having spent some
not to fear a man to whom he is not inferior and that perswades him that without baseness and unworthiness he could not disguize in his Dominions that Name under which he had formerly made himself known to him and besides he may probably believe that after he hath done such great Services for the King or rather after he hath preserved his Kingdom by his Valor only he might present himself to him under the same Name of the Defender of his life Howsoever it be Ericia my heart tells me that it is no other Ariamenes but mine and that he loves me sufficiently to undertake more difficult and more dangerous things upon my Account I know not whether I shall be deceived or not but in this uncertainty Ericia I am ignorant whether I should rejoyce or afflict my self 'T is true I cannot but be very joyful to understand that Ariobarzanes is not far from us that the King is newly obliged to him for the preservation of his Kingdom and yet I cannot but tremble for fear when I know that he comes to expose himsef to the cruelty of a jealous King who hath so terribly threatned him I told him indeed That he should gain the Kings good will by submission and Services but I did not desire that he should move him or serve him in such a dangerous manner or rather I did not desire that he should use so little caution in the preservation of a life which is more dear to me than mine own These were almost the very words I spoke to Ericia and that affectionate Maid making her real thoughts give way in part to the desire she had to comfort me represented to me that though this Ariamenes were the real Ariobarzanes yet I could have no reason to fear any thing upon his Account and that the King without rendring himself detestable to all the World could not conserve one thought of enmity against him after he had received such important Services from him there was more probability that Adallas would make all his resentments give place to others more full of reason and acknowledgement and if Ariobarzanes discovered himself to be what really he was he might expect the recompence he pretended to from a King so mightily obliged to him I partly flattered my self with Ericia's Discourse and did neither quite reject it nor absolutely give credit to it The King was no less troubled in mind than I at this Name of Ariamenes but that he could not imagine that any man would have been so bold as to come alone to brave him so publickly in his Kingdom after the prohibitions he made him to the contrary so he began to change the opinion he had received that it might be he and not being ignorant how much need he had still of the Valour and Service of that stranger whosoever he might be he desired in giving him intelligence of his Arrival to assure him of his Acknowledgment and to confirm him in the zeal which he expressed for his Service Upon this Design sending one of his Servants to him with orders to consult with him concerning all necessary Affairs he gave him a Letter of which I believe these were the very words Adallas King of Thrace to the General Ariamenes I Should be ungrateful if I did not confess that I owe to your Valor and generous Assistance the preservation of whatsoever is left me in my Dominions and though you are but a stranger you have done that for a Prince to whom you had no obligation which possibly the most faithful Subjects never did for their lawful Prince I have no recompence to offer you which can equalize the greatness of your Services but if your gallant Actions can find any elsewhere besides in the glory of the performance of them you shall make your own choice in a Kingdom where all things shall be at the Service of its valiant Defender If the King had sent one of those men to Ariamenes who had made the Voyage with him he might have been satisfied at his return of the truth of his doubts but whether it was by chance or by design he put Nicocles upon the employment the same that we met at Sea who had never seen the face of Ariamenes but in Thrace However it was Nicocles went to find him out with order to confer with him about the Kings designs and to understand the condition of his Forces and of the Enemies Army In the mean time the Kingreceived the same day by Sea the supplies which Nicocles had made mention of to him and he hoped that within a few dayes from the places which continued under his obedience and had not as yet been attempted by the Enemies he should receive Forces considerable enough to take the Field and go and join with Ariamenes in a condition to give Battel to Merodates He had reason to expect this Recruit for the Levies were begun before the death of Eurimedes and continued afterwards by the care of Ariamenes so that in all likelihood they were in a condition to march Since the time we had arrived at Bizantium the King forgot nothing that was to be done in order to their employment in his Service at their Arrival and in the interim Nicocles being returned and having informed him that Ariamenes with his small Body attended still upon Merodates his Army and had no other design at present but to raise the Siege of Bergula which the Enemies had invested he gave him his Letter which contained these words The Stranger Ariamenes to the King of Thrace THE Services which I have rendred your Majesty are too inconsiderable to merit the acknowledgment which you vouchsafe them and I have been too well paid for the assistance I have given to your Subjects by the honour they have done me in making me their General 'T is an honour that I never was ambitious of because I deserved it not and yet I did not refuse it because it gave me an opportunity to serve you I will resign it into the hands of that person whom your Majesty shall judge worthy to command your Troops and while it is in mine I will behave my self in it with all the fidelity you might expect from the most affectionate of your Subjects By these words which made no mention of what was past nor expressed any precedent Acquaintance the King still perswaded himself that this Ariamenes was not the Ariamenes that he was afraid of and I confess that when he read them in my presence I became partly of his opinion and lost some part either of the hope or the fear which I had conceived In the mean time the News came to the King the next day that Ariamenes with a part of his small Body had cut in pieces Four thousand men whom Merodates had sent to guard a Convoy and did so weaken him by degrees that if the Destinies continued to be favourable to him in a small time Merodates would have no advantage in
didst expect from a King obliged to thy Valor be not found in an injured and desperate Love As he finished the words he turned towards Sosias and Eusthenes the Captains of his Guards and commanded them to seize upon the person of Ariamenes and to be responsible for him upon pain of death At this Command all those who had followed Ariamenes and who with the rest of the Army had conceived a marvellous Affection for him could not forbear to murmur aloud at it and those that came along with the King who were acquainted with the merit and services of Ariamenes could not hear it without a deal of displeasure Ariamenes seemed to be the least tcoubled at it and if he was was only with some motions of Choler and that Passion of which till then he had rendred himself Master upon the consideration of his Love could not be so absolutely restrained in a fierce and fiery spirit as Ariobarzanes's was but that at last it would in some measure appear I should lye said he to the King If I should say that I expected any other usage from thee and thy Actions have so much congruity with that gallant Passion by which thou would'st excuse thy ingratitude that the value of thy life and Kingdom could not make me expect any other recompence than what thou bestowest upon me It suffices me for my satisfaction to see thee declare that thou art beholding to me for thy life before those who know already that thou art obliged to me for the preservation of thy Kingdom and I am sufficiently satisfied and revenged upon thee by the shame which I leave thee for using those so to whom thou confessest that thou owest thy Crown and Life After these words seeing Sosias and Eusthenes though very much troubled at the employment to draw near him and demand his Sword This Sword said he laying his hand upon the Hilt hath done too good service in the defence of your King and you to endure to pass out of my hand into hands unworthy to bear it but seeing that it is to no purpose to defend it against an Army I render it to the Princess Olympia and 't is to her only continued he throwing it at Sosia's feet that I charge you to present it as being the only person in Thrace who can deserve that honour and that hath reason to glory that she hath made Ariamenes yield up his Arms. These words pronounced with an admirable Grace re-inflamed the Kings anger afresh and not being able to dissemble it Thou hast pronounced the sentence of thine own death said he in pronouncing the Name of Olympia and that fatal Love whereof thou makest so publick a Declaration in throwing thy self into thy Grave shall give a fair example to such audacious Youngsters as thou art to be more regular in their Ambition Thou may'st judge what thou pleasest of my thoughts replied Ariamenes but if I love the Princess Olympia know she is not offended by my Love as she is highly injured by thine and seeing that I am neither her Brother as thou art nor of a Birth inferior to hers she might receive that from me without wronging her self which she cannot endure from thee without detestation Upon these words the King had almost made his indignation appear in some Tragical effect and seeing himself covered with shame and confusion by the reproaches of Ariamenes he was ready to run him through with his Sword at last retaining himself though with much difficulty I endure any thing said he from a man whom I can punish at my pleasure a man devoted to death by my just resentments and his own confession Take him out of my presence and whil'st there is order taken for his punishment we will learn if his Birth be not inferior to mine Thou shalt know it possibly replied Ariamenes sooner than thou desirest and upon this hint which I have given thee consider more than once how thou wilt proceed against the Son of a greater King than he of Thrace Having spoken these words he turned another way without having any longer Conversation with the King who being unwilling to have him conducted into the Army where he was adored by his Souldiers and where he was afraid of some Commotion if the Souldiery had seen their valiant General a Prisoner commanded Eusthenes to carry him to Bizantium with a Convoy of Five hundred Horse and to stay there to Guard him till he received farther Orders but he expresly forbade him upon pain of death to permit me to see him protesting to him That if any such thing hapned he would never pardon him Eusthenes having received this Order with regret and yet being forced to obey it caused Ariamenes to mount upon another Horse instead of his own and putting him into the middle of the Troop which was to conduct him he caused him to march towards Bizantium Before that he arrived there the Report of his being taken and of all that had passed upon this occasion was already spread abroad and I was one of the first persons that had the Relation brought to them You may imagine what effect this News produced upon my spirit and you need not doubt but this sad Adventure made me fall into the most violent grief that any Soul could be sensible of Indeed the danger whereunto I saw this young Prince whom I loved as much as his merit and affection did oblige me to do exposed for the love of me did so nearly touch me that I should tell you nothing but the Truth if I should protest to you That I would willingly have been in his place and have been made the mark of all the mischief that was aimed at him By the new proofs which he had given me of his Affection in coming without any care of his life to make such a generous and noble search after opportunities of seeing me and serving his most cruel Enemy upon my-Account he had as I conceived so far obliged me That I could not without ingratitude deny him as much Affection as he expressed to me And in that my fair Princesses I acquitted my self as I ought loving him as dearly and as sincerely as my Soul was capable to do O gods what did I not think what did I say at this cruel News And what Testimonies did I not give to all the persons which came near me how much I interested my self in this Accident One while I complained of the cruelty and ingratitude of Adallas which could not but render him odious to all the world for the unworthy usage which he shewed to the valiant Defender of his Dominions and the preserver of his life Another while I accused Ariobarzanes of rashneness and want of consideration as to my Repose for coming and casting himself so imprudently into the hands of a man almost mad with Jealousie who had so seriously threatned him and sometimes I checked my self knowing very well that I had partly contributed to this disaster
by the indulgence which I had shewed to the Affection of Ariobarzanes or rather to mine own which made me approve of all that the young Prince could undertake to see and serve me Upon these considerations I almost drowned my self in tears and did so afflict my self that had it not been for Ericia's comforting of me I believe my grief would have been able to have laid me in my Grave In the mean while it was no small consolation to me in my displeasure to see how all the world participated in it and the Inhabitants of Bizantium who a few dayes before had seen Ariamenes behave himself with so much Generosity and Valor in the defence of their lives and liberties or rather had looked upon him as their miraculous perserver and had still a fresh remembrance of the prodigious Actions which they had seen him do for their interest could not see him brought prisoner into their City being accused for nothing but for loving the Princess Olympia without expressing publickly how much they were discontented at it and plainly declaring That the King did very ill to Treat a man so to whom he was indebted for his Crown and to whom by his own confession he was beholding for his life too And when Eusthenes caused him to pass through the streets to convey him to the place where they were wont to secure considerable prisoners he could hardly hinder the people from breaking out into Sedition and attempting to take him by violence out of his hands What fear soever I had of exasperating the Kings spirit yet not believing that it was any longer necessary to use so much dissimulation to please a Prince who did not Treat me nor look upon me as his Sister I sent presently to demand of Eusthenes if I might not be permitted to see Ariobarzanes But he came himself to make his own Apology and to tell me That the King had expresly forbidden him upon pain of death This redoubling of my grief made me flie out more than possibly I should have done and I could not forbear in Eusthenes his presence to exceed the bounds of moderation which till then I had better observed Well said I to him with my eyes covered with tears Let the King finish his shameful persecutions with the utmost cruelties that he can exercise against me and let him join to that horrible and foolish passion which already renders him the Fable of the whole world a cruelty and an ingratitude towards his generous Deliverer which will make is Name detestable to all Princes He cannot render himself blacker than he is neither can he ever work any thing upon Olympia's spirit but horror and repugnance After I had spoken these words I shut my self up in my Closet where I passed the remainder of that day in the saaddest contid on imaginable The next day I received a Letter from the King by a Messenger whom he sent from the Camp whereof these were the very words The King of Thrace to the Princess Olympia IT is no time for you to deny that which Ariamenes himself hath openly declared to me He loves you Madam and is beloved by you The knowledge of this is sufficient to be the death of Adallas but it is capable too of making him sacrifice that Rival to his just resentments I owe very much to him without doubt but according to the sense of Nature I owe no less to my self and I had rather stain my reputation a little with ingratitude than make the preservation of his life an eternal torment to mine own In brief Olympia as our common misfortune will have it he must dye and dye he shall without doubt if to save a man whom you love but ought not to love you do not bestow your self upon him whom youâ— love not but ought to love If you make this attempt upon your inclinations of his safety he will have no cause to accuse you and doubtless he will have reason to complain for you at his death if you refuse to save his life the preservation whereof depends upon you Consult with your affection hereupon and be resolved with your self that you cannot preserve the life of Ariamenes but by bestowing Olympia upon me You may very well comprehend my fair Princesses how much this Letter augmented my Affliction and you need not doubt but that I found a great occasion to torment my self in that cruel choice which Adallas presented to me This Letter made me weep it made me deplore my misfortune in very pitiful expressions and make imprecations too against the cruelties of this unnatural Brother But whatsoever care I had of the safety of Ariobarzanes or whatsoever fear I might receive from the menaces of Adallas I did not waver at all in the resolution I was to take and knowing very well that Ariobarzanes would not take it as a Courtesie to receive his life at my hands if he must purchase it by my bestowing my self upon his Rival I consulted no farther either with my Affection or my Duty what Answer I should return to Adallas but sent it him immediately by the man which had brought me his Letter and I believe I wrote to him in these or the like words The Princess Olympia to the King of Thrace I Could not hear of the Captivity of Ariamenes without bearing a share with all your faithful Subjects in their affliction for the misfortune of their valiant Defender That Captive whom you intend to put to death before you know him might expect other recompence from you and you would not be in a condition to threaten his life if he had neglected the preservation of yours nor to keep him Prisoner in Bizantium if at the rate of his own blood he had not defended the walls of it His destiny is in your hands or rather in the hands of the gods whose power is superior to that of Kings and who may still put you into a condition of having need of an Ariamenes If I could contribute to his safty doubtless I would do it at any rate but what you demand But as for that 't is possible that Ariamenes himself would not accept of his life upon these conditions but would be generous enough not to desire that I should save it by so horrible an action If he does not love me I should be too blame to do that for the preservation of his life which I have alwayes avoided at the peril of mine own and if he does love me as you accuse him he will receive his death more cruelly by my bestowing Olympia upon you than by those means which you have to destroy him In brief if the gods will have him live they can free him out of your hands and if he must dye I had rather that he should dye by your ingratitude than by mine Though these words if you take them in a contrary sense to mine expressed some indifference as to Ariobarzanes's life and though it was my intention too to
looking upon your benefits as favours which I have not merited I will likewise look upon the usage which I have received from the King your Brother rather as a just Chastisement than as an injury That which my memory may retain of it shall not hinder me from employing my life still in his Service and though I may expect to be requited for it as I was for the rest of my former Actions yet I find a very glorious recompence in the honor of obeying you and I will neglect nothing that I may worthily acquit my self of the employment which you bestow upon me having such a Number of persons about you amongst whom you might make a more just Election This was the Answer which he returned me in the presence of all the Company and rising up at my Request he went out of the Prison and being followed by a numerous multitude of people he reconducted me to the Palace Though Love at that time was possibly the most powerfully predominant in him yet his first cares were employed in the functions of the charge which he had reassumed and with an admirable Generosity trampling under foot the injury which he had freshly received from Adallas he had nothing so strongly imprinted in his spirit as the desire of restoring his liberty and with the hazard of his own life to endeavour the defence of his Enemies Subjects and Dominions He spent the rest of that day in visiting the Magazines of Arms and Provisions in reviewing the Forces which we had left and the Number of the Inhabitants capable to bear Arms in that important necessity of State in giving orders for the curing of the wounded for furnishing those with Arms who had lost them for recruiting the Companies and choosing new Officers in the places of those who had been killed or taken and briefly in all such things as a person well versed as he was in the Art of War might practice upon such an occasion He found good store of Arms and Provisions and by the supputation which he made of the Souldiers and the Inhabitants he found that upon our urgent necessity he could raise of the one and the other above Fifteen thousand men This discovery having filled them with joy and confidence of the success of his Designs he resolved not to permit the ardour of the Inhabitants to languish which might in time grow cold but to lead them out to fight whil'st Merodates was weakned by the loss he had received in the last Battel He communicated his resolution to the chief of them that were about him by whom it was approved and after he had given them instructions and necessary orders to dispose all things he came in the Evening to give me a Visit You may judge my Princesses how joyful I was that I could discourse freely with him in my Chamber and in the Palace of the Kings of Thrace who could not do it before but only in a little desart Island where the fear of death which was alwayes before our eyes was capable to disturb our Conversations His contentments likewise seemed to me more absolute than those he tasted in his first acquaintance with me and when he saw himself near me where no suspitious person could over-hear him expressed his thoughts in such passionate terms that I was perswaded that few persons till that time had loved more strongly and more really than he When his passion had given vent to its first emotions and I had assured him that my acknowledgment and affection towards him was as great as he could rationally desire I began to blame him for the little care he had had of his life and the interest which I had in it in coming to expose himself as he had done to the mercy of a jealous and implacable Enemy having used no precaution to conceal himself in the Dominions of a man who by his Oath was in a manner engaged to destroy him and from whom according to former probabilities and the remembrance of the former effects of his ingratitude he could expect nothing but all mannrr of ill usage By this Reproach and the Request I made to him besides Ariobarzanes being engaged to give me an Account of what he had done since our parting in the Isle of Cyprus and how he came into Thrace and into the Army which Eurimedes commanded informed me in a few words That after the King had dismissed him at Carpasia retiring from us he spent some dayes in a private place of the City to find out some means to see me but afterwards seeing that his endeavours were but in vain and that I was so strictly Guarded his Design was to go and stay for us in Thrace not doubting but that immediately after the King was cured we would take our way thither hoping he should find some favourable occasion there to see me again possibly to do some other Service for Adallas which might mollifie his heart and make him express more acknowledgment for it than he had done for the former He told me that he was confirmed in this intention by the Discourse which he heard a few dayes after amongst some Merchants of the Isle of Lesbos from whom he understood that there was a War begun in Thrace that the Prince of Taurica Chersonesus was entred with an Army into those Countries which Adallas had taken from him and that there was a great deal of likelihood that by reason of the Kings Absence the Countrey would be exposed to great Desolations He told me likewise that he made his advantage of this Discourse without discovering any thing to the Lesbians or to any other persons that he kept company with what he knew concerning the King of Thrace supposing that it was his Design to conceal himself and being unwilling to do him a bad Office A few dayes after seeing those Lesbians ready to return into their own Countrey he prayed them to receive him into their Vessel and to let him bear them company into their Island which he had a Design to see which they did very willingly and being arrived at Lesbos by the assistance of those Merchants he sold part of those Diamonds which he had in his Picture-Case and by that means had wherewithal to put himself in a good Equipage and to furnish himself with all things necessary From Lesbos he easily got into Thrace where he found all the Frontiers towards Chersonesus in Arms there he took Servants bought himself Horses and fair Arms and entred himself in our Troops where he continued a while unknown and without any intention to discover himself but afterwards having the happiness to do some signal Actions he declared himself under the Name of Ariamenes and Fortune having been so favourable to him under the conduct of Eurimedes as to let him render some important Services to the King and Countrey of Thrace he hoped before his Arrival he should do something for him so great and considerable that he might present himself to
and glorious his Helmet being shaded with a Plume of Feathers covered his Head which he advanced with a redoubtable fiercenese his Horse was proud and stately in his Pace and all things did so accompany the comeliness of his person that no body could conceive any thing of him but what was very great and extraordinary He passed by without seeing me not knowing that I saw him for because of the condition I was in I had thrown a Veil over me and stood behind some of my women After I had lost the sight of him I accompanied him with a gale of sighs and taking little notice of the rest I retired into my Chamber where my Soul was troubled all the rest of that day and those that followed it with all the inquietudes which in that condition of my Fortune might probably keep me Company 'T is not worth the while my Princesses and it would be too tedious and troublesome to you for me to repeat to you all the Discourses which my Affection made me make in the absence of Ariobarzanes to describe to you the different effects of my fears and my hopes and in brief to acquaint you with those things which you your selves may imagine instead of relating those things which as yet you know not and which better deserve your attention Ariobarzanes intended to march towards Merodates with all convenient speed but yet in such a manner that his Troops might not be weary when they should come to fight and he ordered their march so that spending but a few dayes upon the way he presented himself to his Enemy with his men fresh enough to give Battel the first day Merodates because of the inconveniency of his wounded men and for other important Reasons was removed but a few Furlongs from the place where he had gained the Victory and he had caused the King to be carried Prisoner into a little Town which lay behind him He expected the coming of more Forces with which he prepared to march directly to Bizantium absolutely to establish a Dominion which he thought could no longer be disputed with him and he ordered all things like a gallant Warrior as he was when contrary to his expectation and contrary to all probabilities he saw Ariobarzanes incamped within sight of him in a likely capacity to bid him Battel Never was astonishment like to that of Merodates and though he was not capable of a Fright yet this sudden Return of an Enemies Army whom he thought unable to make Head against him and this new Obstacle which he had not foreseen in a Countrey whereof the King was his Prisoner gave him cause enough to look to himself and to take new resolutions He quickly guessed at the Truth and believed that Ariamenes was at liberty and that none but Ariamenes could put the Bizantines in Arms with so much suddenne's and lead them with so much confidence against such a redoubtable Enemy The day following he was confirmed in his opinion and he received certain intelligence that it was against that Ariamenes whom he knew but too well to his cost that he must dispute the establishment of his Monarchy and as great and couragious as he was it is certain that he was troubled at Ariamenes's coming and foresaw that there could not have come a greater Obstacle against him to cross and possibly to ruine his Designs In the mean time Ariamenes was incamped but Thirty or forty Furlongs off from Merodates and the two Camps could easily see each others Fires Ariamenes knowing very well that he had to deal with one of the most valiant men and one of the best Captains in the World neglected nothing that might contribute to his advantages and had so much desire to accomplish his Enterprize with that success and honour which he had proposed to himself that he left nothing unthought of which could be practised by the most experienced Captain upon the like occasion In fine he resolved with the Advice of the Officers of his Army whose Counsel he willingly hearkned to not to lose time in slight skirmishes nor to manage the business as he had done whil'st he only commanded a small flying Camp against a mighty Army but to give Battel which at another time he would not have so easily ventured before that Merodates proceeded to the utmost extremities against Adallas as they feared he would and as he was advised to do but because he very well foresaw that he could not attach the Enemies in their Camp without giving them a great deal of advantage he resolved to march in Battalia towards the little town wher the King was kept Prisoner as if he would storm that and take it by Assault not doubting but by that means he should oblige them to quit their Lines and fight with the more Equality He had fully taken this resolution and gave Orders to put it in execution the next day when they presented to him a Trumpeter from Merodates with a Letter from that Prince Ariamenes received him according to the ordinary Forms and having taken the Letter he opened it and therein read these words Merodates King of Thrace and Taurica Chersonesus to the General Ariamenes THough by thee alone the progress of my Arms hath been stopped and though I have found a greater Obstacle in thy single self than in all the Forces of the Thracians Thou art too valiant to be hated by thy Enemies I really protest to thee that I detested the ingratitude of Adallas I regretted thy misfortune and was joyful to hear of thy being at liberty They that have freed thee from thy imprisonment declaring themselves to be Friends to injured Vertue have done that which I my self had a desire to do and if they had not prevented me I had made thee my Friend instead of having thee for my Enemy 'T is very certain that the esteem which I have of thy Valor makes me sorry to see that thou imployest it still in the service of an ungrateful Prince and that thou goest to fight with a Prince who desires thy Amity in the quarrel of a man which hath nothing but prisons and punishments for thy recompence Where is thy Resentment Where is thy Courage Ariamenes And not being a Subject to Adallas What honest motive canst thou have to engage thy self in his Service after the unworthy usage he hath shewn thee Join thy self rather with his Enemies to revenge the injury which thou hast received Thou hast wayes enough to do it without prejudice to thy honour and if the love of Olympia as the common opinion is retains thee in her Brother's Service consider that by the assistance of my Arms thou may'st obtain Olympia whom thou wilt never obtain by her Brothers good will I give thee my inviolable promise to put that Princess into thy power with Dignities besides which may satisfie thy Ambition Let me know thy intention before we put it to the hazard of a Battel which may probably prove as
my self upon your word Having spoken these words Ariobarzanes held his peace expecting Adallas's Answer who upon that Discourse was fallen into a great perplexity and as he imagined seeing misfortune on every side knew not which way to turn himself to be least unfortunate The love he had for me could not without a great deal of violence permit him to bestow me upon another and it seemed to him that by this demand he was robbed of a piece of his heart but coming to consider that he was without a Kingdom without liberty and possibly upon the point to lose life as he saw there was a great deal of likelilihood he could not resolve to lose all and perish miserably by persevering in a detestable passion whereof he could never expect any good success possibly for a more hopeful love he would have quitted both Crown and life without consideration but at last he resolved or at least seemed to do so and after he had held his eyes a long time fixed upon the ground raising them up to Ariobarzanes's face Ariamenes said he or Ariobarzanes Prince or whosoever you are you reduce me to a cruel extremity and if the Service which you promise me and whereof I plainly perceive the necessity and the importance could be recompensed by one half of that Kingdom which you offer to restore me it would be much more easie for me to part with it to you without regret than to yield up Olympia to you and not dye But if you be resolved upon it and if nothing be capable to satisfie you but to give you Olympia well added he with a sigh since my ill Fortune and my Reason which my passion hath so much strugled with will have it so well then I promise you Olympia and engage my Royal word to you which amongst my other failings hath been alwayes inviolably observed that if you perform what you promise and if you be a Kings Son as you assure me you are I will render you possessor of Olympia It was not without expressing sufficient Testimonies of his grief that the King uttered these words and Ariobarzanes had no sooner heard them but turning himself towards those which came into the Chamber with him You are Witnesses my Friends said he That the King hath engaged his word to me and it highly concerns me to assure my self further of it by your Testimony There is no need of that assurance replied Adallas and what soever may befall me I will never fail in the performance of my word Since it is so added the Prince assuming a more pleasant countenance than before and that nothing is able to disingage you from your promise Know King of Thrace that I did not stay till I had your word before I rendred you the Service which you expect from me I am more generous in Effect than I seemed to be in our Conversation Merodates is dead by my hand and all your Enemies hear him Company you are the King of the Thracians now in peace and you may at this moment being free a Conquerour and absolute restore your presence and perfect peace to your Subjects Having made an end of these words Ariobarzanes obliged Euristheus who was with him to give the King a full Relation of all that had passed which he did at length and filling the Kings mind with admiration at the gallant Actions of Ariamenes he gave him a particular Account of the present condition of his Affairs by the death of Merodates and the defeat of all his Troops after which there was little probability that those that were left in the Towns which he hadnot taken would stay so much as a Summons the King upon this Discourse was assaulted with so many passions and so many different perturbations that it was hard to judge which of them would gain the Victory in his spirit At last after he had made long reflections upon the revolutions of his Fortune and had turned his thoughts from the loss of his Dominions his Imprisonment and the danger which had threatned his life to the advantagious change which he had received in his condition by the Valor of Ariobarzanes O immortal gods said he lifting up his eyes to Heaven for what reason have you thus subjected my Genius to Ariamenes that in all the misfortunes of my life I can receive no assistance from you but by his means After that turning himself towards him with an Action composed of a great deal of sweetness Be not offended said he if it be some Affliction to me to be so deeply indebted to you being so unable to requite Services of so high a value I acknowledge you though it be a little of the latest for my Benefactor for my Defender and for my perpetual Deliverer and whatsoever I suffer I will keep my word I doubt it not Sir said Ariobarzanes and I would not have taken so much care to have obtained your promise if I had not had an absolute confidence in it By this Action you will too happily recompence my Services and you will acquire the esteem of the whole Eeath by knowing how to subdue an Enemy more hard to overcome than Merodates was Let us speak no more of it added the King with a sigh let us speak no more of it I will keep my word After these words he continued a long time without speaking and in Conclusion endeavouring to express the satisfaction which was due to the change of his Fortune and to shew himself to his people in a condition which might recover their affection after some Discourse had with Ariobarzanes and those that were with him concerning the necessity of his Affairs and those things which were still left to do he went out of the House and the Town which had served for his Prison and went to shew himself to his Victorious Army which saluted him with loud Acclamations and gave him to understand That Misfortunes are sometimes advantagious to move and to recall those spirits which might be alienated by the miscarriages of Prosperity He viewed the Field where the Battel was sought where the marks of Ariamenes's victory were still fresh and though he beheld them with some confusion yet he could not choose but give that Prince part of the praises which were due to him and approve at least in shew the Ardor which his Subjects expressed in obeying him and fighting according to his Orders At the Request of Ariobarzanes the body of Merodates was used with a great deal of honour and permission was given to his Friends to carry it whither they pleased to rendâ—r it the honour of Burial Ariamenes likewise sent back all the Prisoners upon condition that they should pass to their Garrisons which were held still by their Companions and exhort them to retire within Fifteen dayes which was the time allotted by the King for their secure departure out of Thrace according to the Pass-ports which were delivered to them Thus was peace restored to Thrace with
such a suddenness as was not imaginable and by the Valor of one single man that Kingdom upon the Eve of its total ruine saw it self reinstated in a more peaceable and flourishing condition than possibly it had ever been The King returned to Bizantium as it were in Triumph having the Victorious Ariamenes by his side whom he honoured both according to the greatness of his Service and the knowledge he had then of his Royal Birth The people made them magnificent Receptions with the Description whereof I will not trouble my self nor with other things which passed at the Kings return and do usually pass upon occasions of the like Nature You may very well judge my Princesses that the report of all that had hapned which had already reached my ears was not unwelcome to me 'T is certain that esteeming and loving Ariobarzanes as I did I could not but be very joyful to hear of the greatness of his Actions and the promise which the King had made him and having never had any other Design but to make him my Husband when decency should permit a success so conformable to my intentions could not but give me a great deal of satisfaction Yet I endeavoured to moderate the Testimonies I might give of it so that I might not too much discover the inclination of my Soul and when the King came to visit me with Ariobarzanes whom he was pleased to bring along with him I received them both in such a manner that it was hard for indifferent persons to judge of the inside of my heart by outward appearances The King could not dissemble so for grief is not so easily mastered as joy and whatsoever endeavour he used he had much ado to conceal his resentment He spake but little and made no mention at all of what was past being unwilling either to reproach me with the offence which I had done him in freeing Ariobarzanes out of Prison without his Orders or to thank me for the means I had given that Prince to restore him to his liberty and Kingdom His Discourse was cold and full of constraint and after some words far different from those which he had formerly used to me Sister said he I will do all that possibly I can to repair those faults which I may have committed and in the mean time I present the Prince Ariobarzanes unto you whose Services can receive no other recompence but the Princess Olympia Speaking as your Brother I shall say that the greatness of his Services are far above such a recompence but indeed he desires no other and I am engaged to procure him the possession of you by all the credit I have with you I cast'd down my eyes at these words with some shew of confusion and judging that I ought to make a Reply unto the Kings Discourse Sir said I I know the obedience which I ought to render you at all times when together with the quality of my King you resume that of my Brother and I will endeavour so to regulate my will by yours that you shall have no cause to condemn me My will answered the King with his former coldness shall be such for the future that you may easily conform to it and I should be very sorry if I should desire any thing of you that might be disadvantagious or disagreeable to you All the rest of our Conversation was as cold as this except it were the Testimonies which I gave the King of the joy I resented for his liberty and the good success of his Affairs and Ariobarzanes intermingled his Discourse with ours when he thought himself obliged to it by an handsom opportunity behaving himself like a modest person who did respectfully consider the violence which the King offered to himself for his sake He went back with him as he came in his Company and at this first Visit we could have no particular converse together but the next day having had the opportunity to entertain him with more liberty I expressed to him the contentment I had in this glorious success of his Arms and the ingenious policy he used to gain Adallas his promise by such Discourses as sufficiently signified to him that I really loved him and would willingly obey the King my Brother when he should order me to marry him Ariobarzanes spake nothing to me but in the language of Transports which sufficiently discovering his passion he made me a thousand Discourses which I cannot repeat to you because the same passion made them to be without coherence and connexion and before we parted he desired me to give him permission to press the King as much as he could to the performance of his promise I saw him divers times besides with a great deal of liberty and I had the more facility to do it because the King did but rarely visit me and when he did did it very privately and did so restrain himself that in his Conversation there was not a word intermingled concerning that love which I had so much detested I understood by all manner of Tokens that it was not extinguished in his Soul but I hoped that when I should be farther off from him absence might dissipate it or rather that when I should be far distant from him I should no longer be afraid of the effects which it might produce being fully resolved as soon as he had bestowed me upon Ariorbarzanes to retire into Armenia with him and not to stay any longer in the King my Brother's Court for fear of being importuned by him at a time when it would be more difficult for me to bear with him Divers dayes passed away during which the King rendred a great deal of honour and civility to Ariobarzanes Treating him not only as a King's Son but as a King to whom he had those obligations which he had to him and by all manner of caresses and magnificent Presents he endeavoured to make him believe that he would not be ungrateful to him for his good Offices but he did not speak a word of me and Ariobarzanes who out of respect delayed as much as he could to require the performance of his promise was very much displeased to see that he made no mention of me and took this silence for a very bad Omen He was oftentimes about to speak to him of it first but the King alwayes deprived him of all opportunities by putting him upon Discourses of a quite different Subject and if he had found Ariobarzanes to have been of a timorous and unconfident spirit he would certainly have hindred him for whole years together from being so bold as to open his mouth to that purpose In the mean time he expressed a mortal sadness in all his Actions and whil'st his Subjects had made and did every day make Bonfires for the News that came of the absolute Retreat of all the Garrisons which Merodates had left in those Towns which he had taken that fire unluckily kindled in his Soul hindred him
from assisting at the other and did so far deprive him of all sensibility of his own happiness that instead of appearing like a Conqueror and as one Triumphant in the judgment of his people he could not have looked with a more sorrowful countenance when he was Prisoner to Merodates Ariobarzanes himself could not but look upon his misfortune with some pity but as the cause of it was odious so he could imagine no remedy for it or at least the best he could find was to hasten the execution of his Design and to take me speedily out of the sight of that Prince to remove me from his memory In fine not being able to continue any longer in that silence which the King did but too strictly observe and disposing himself to speak to him of it one day in my Gallery where they were a walking together after he had prepared his mind for it by his precedent Discourse when the King saw that he could no longer avoid the hearing of that unwelcome proposal he was minded to prevent him and looking upon the Prince with Passion lively painted in his eyes Well Ariobarzanes said he Must I then needs part with Olympia to you Ariobarzanes seemed astonished at this Discourse and after that he had continued some moments without a Reply You shall not part with Olympia as a Lover said he but you shall bestow her upon me as her Brother Whether as a Lover or as a Brother answered Adallas I must keep my word but you cannot exact it of me and reduce me to the cruel necessity of a performance without throwing death into my Bosome Sir replied Ariobarzanes if your distemper were of such a nature as that it might be remedied by an Action of Generosity and Franchise you should possibly find more of it in me than you have reason to expect and it may be I should have enough to force my inclinations in your favour if instead of a Sister from whom you can never expect any thing you loved a Princess which might entertain your affections But believe it Sir I do no way contribute to your misfortune and though I should quit Olympia you would have never the more satisfaction in the love you have for her And in brief though Ariobarzanes were out of the world the Princess Olympia would never marry the King her Brother Well replied Adallas with an Action full of Despair That which the gods have Decreed will come And having spoken these words he went and shut himself up in his Closet and would see no body all that day Ariobarzanes being troubled at this Conversation and highly displeased to see himself a great deal farther off than he thought from the effect of his hopes came to render me a Visit with a countenance which partly discovered the displeasure he resented and as soon as he had accosted me not being able to dissemble that which he had upon his heart I see Madam said he That I am not so near the Haven as I imagined my Fortune is no more changed than Adallas's mind and I shall never cease to be unhappy because he will never cease to be ungrateful Being inforced by the necessity of his Affairs and the fear of death which threatned him he gave me his word which he had no intention to keep but either let him put me to death whil'st I am in his power or let him not think to use me thus without answering it and after that he hath gotten all the Services out of me which he could desire let him consider more than once that 't is to no contemptible person that he hath engaged his word He uttered these words with such an Action as I never saw him use before but he had no sooner acquainted me with the cause of his anger but I found it to be very just and conjectured as well as he that indeed the King had no design to perform his promise I used all the Arguments that possibly I could to recompose his mind and to mitigate his resentments but he was very uncapable of relishing my consolations neither was I in any good condition to give him any really participating with him in his affliction and when I would have preached patience to him There is no patience in the world said he that can brook this usage If I do receive it and you be not minded to attempt á second flight for my sake and to trust your self to the conduct of a Prince to whom you have given hopes of possessing you will you please to consent That I should Arm all the Friends which the world can furnish me with come in the Head of Fifty thousand men to demand of Adallas the execution of his promise All your intentions are very just replied I but the effects of them are not so easie and besides that my Duty would oppose my retreat with you which you seem to propose the execution of it would be now impossible and since my first flight Adallas hath deprived me of all means to attempt a second therefore there is no thinking upon that and as for the War you speak of I should think my self very unfortunate to cause so much blood to be shed upon my occasion and besides the distance is so great between your Countrey and ours the passage by Sea so long so difficult for the conduct of an Army and the events of War so doubtful that I shall never advise you to follow that way What would you have me to do then cryed the afflicted Ariobarzanes And what means can I have to acquire you if you disapprove of all that I have left I know not answered I and all that I can really protest to you is That I am sensible of our common misfortune as you can desire and I have still some hope to see Adallas in a better mind if we manage his spirit gently not knowing that ever he received any reproach for having failed of his word By these Discourses and some others I disposed the spirit of Ariobarzanes which was naturally very courteous to moderate his resentments so long as things were not grown desperate and yet not to lose the opportunity of solliciting the King in a mild way and of moving him to a consideration of his honour engaged in his promise The next day the King who would not see any body after the last Conversation he had had with Ariobarzanes came out of his Chamber and came almost all alone to visit me in mine Ariobarzanes whether out of Design or by Accident I know not came in immediately after and I saw very well that the King and he could not look one upon the other without changing of colour but the King being resolved what he would say to me the Princes presence could not hinder him and beginning to speak though with a very ill assured Action Madam said he If you could have Conquered those scruples which hindred you from loving me or rather that strong aversion which
hath been the only cause of all the misfortunes of my life by bestowing your self upon me you would have married a King and have worn a very considerable Crown upon your Head but if you marry Ariobarzanes how illustrious soever his Birth is you can never hope to be a Queen and the Scepter of the Armenians which is in his Brothers hands so as it is never likely to come into his will not exempt you from passing your dayes amongst the Armenians as a private person This Discourse of the Kings being made in Ariobarzanes presence did very sensibly afflict me and fearing lest the Prince being interessed and obliged to make a Reply should have done it too sharply I gave him a hint with my eye that he should leave the care of that to me preventing him just as he was about to open his mouth Sir said I to the King Though the Prince Ariobarzanes could never hope for Crowns his Birth is sublime enough to satisfie the Ambition of the greatest Princess upon Earth and the merit of his Person great enough to make it preferrible before the greatest Kings And besides if Fortune second his Vertue he may yet expect a Crown and it is probable that he that did so valiantly defend yours or rather that so generously snatched it from your Enemies to restore it to you may make use of his Sword with the same success and Conquer one for himself You may Madam added the impatient Prince who could no longer contain himself You may add to that which your Goodness causes you to say on my behalf That when the King your Brother was a Prisoner to Merodates and saw his Throne turned Topsie-turvey standing in fear of the Enemies Sword which hanged over his Head he made no such reflection but after he had represented very civilly to me what nothing but Generosity could oblige me to do in his Favour without demurring upon the want of a Crown with which he reproaches me he promised me the Princess Olympia for my recompence Yes cryed the King quite transported with fury Yes I did promise thee Olympia and since thou dost demand the performance of that promise with so much rigor I will inviolably keep it it shall never be objected to me that I break it and I acquit my self of it from this moment by putting Olympia into thy power and giving thee leave to marry her Did I promise thee any more No Sir immediately replied the Prince I disengage myself then of my word answered Adallas in giving thee Olympia Thou may'st marry her to day if thou wilt but thou must resolve to dye to morrow I have promised thee Olympia but I did not promise thee to let thee live in the possession of her nor to let him triumph over my life who hath proved my Murderer in seeming the Defender of my people Resolve thy self upon this chose when thou pleasest if there be any cruelty in it thou hast taught it me by thy example and if thou canst reproach me with any thing 't is not with falsifing my word I was so troubled and so terrified at these cruel words of Adallas that I had hardly any sensibility or understanding left and I was so extreamly amazed that I had scarcely so much power as to cast my eyes one while upon the cruel Adallas and another while upon the unfortunate Ariobarzanes But the Prince did hardly seem to be moved at all and looking upon Adallas with an Action full of scorn The possession of Olympia which thou offerest me said he is of so high a value that thou shalt not see me waver in the choice which thou presentest to me and since I cannot expect so glorious a recompence from such an ungrateful and cruel person as thou art without purchasing it with my life thou shalt see me yield it up to thy rage without regret when thou hast bestowed that upon my love which thou owest unto it Give me the Princess then to day and since the gods do judge that I deserve that happiness for no longer a continuance dispose of my destiny to morrow as thou wilt Thou shalt be satisfied replied Adallas more furious and more transported than before and thou may st when thou pleasest enjoy a felicity which thou shalt survive but for one dayes space I have lived long enough for thy ends answered Ariobarzanes seeing that from the miserable estate wherein I saw thee implore my Valor to save thy life I have brought thee into condition to threaten and attack mine If I offer any violence to thy life interrupted Adallas and if I sacrifice it to my misfortune 't is according to thy own will but if thou lovest it so well as to free me of my promise and to content thy self with any other recompences but Olympia thou shalt know that nothing but my misfortune makes me ungrateful and that 't is my despair rather than my inclination that transports me to cruelty Keep thy self replied the Prince keep thy self to thy Proposition as I continue firm to mine except Olympia thou hast nothing in thy power but what is far below me and the least of my Services and with Olympia whom thou owest me I prefer the death which thou presentest me with before thy Friendship to thy Crown During this Discourse having had time to recover out of my former astonishment and to consider the interest which it did concern me to take in that contestation I did not permit it to go any farther without interruption and not judging it convenient to dissemble any part of my thoughts in that extremity of Affairs Do not think said I Prince of Armenia That thy life and person are so inconsiderable to me that I can consent to the cruel agreement which thou makest with this ungratefull man I shall be thine if the gods have so decreed it whatsoever Adallas can do to hinder it but I will not be thine only for a day neither oughtest thou to accept of any condition not common to us both though the Proposition of this Barbarian should be put in execution his Fortune would not be one jot the better and though he were not my Brother he hath rendred himself too unworthy of any hopes that he might have for the widow of Ariobarzanes Reserve thy life then for that which the gods have ordained it for and if Heaven will not permit me to be thine be assured that I will never be any mans else Ariobarzanes being extreamly moved at my words threw himself at my feet notwithstanding the presence of Adallas and all his constancy could not hinder him from bedewing them with some tears The King not being able to endure this Action and the words that I had spoken which filled him with dispite flung out of the Chamber in a furious Transport after that he had again protested that he would keep his resolution and Ariobarzanes staying there after him made me such tender and such passionate Discourses that I could not
forbear shedding an abundance of tears and comforting him by the promise which I often made him That I would bestow my self upon him as soon as I could do it without putting his life in danger We parted for that day without taking any resolution and we met again for some dayes after to seek out the most probable expedients to remedy our misfortune but in the mean while the noise of what had past being spread over all the Court filled it with astonishment and confusion and the vertue of Ariobarzanes being dear to the Thracians his Birth being known and the memory of the great Actions which he had done in their favour being fresh and the Kings promise divulged and received with joy there was not a person in the Court to whom this last effect of the Kings ingratitude was not odious and who did not take the liberty openly to murmur at it At last the chief of the Council being assembled went to the Palace and ventured to represent to the King the consequences that might ensue upon this proceeding of his as well by the aversion which he would cause in his peoples minds by the continuance of his failings as by the danger of a War which he might draw upon him causing Armenia and the greatest part of Asia to take up Arms against him And in brief they remonstrated so many things to him that though he heard them with impatience and at first flew out with a great deal of violence yet at last he told them that he would think once more what he had to do and the next day he would acquaint them with his resolution In the mean time if on one side I afflicted my self Ariobarzanes being full of fiery indignation dreamed of nothing but revenge and besides the interest of his love considering the injurious usage he received as an outrage which a Prince ought not to endure he already thought of Arming all his Friends and Allies Ah! 'T is too much said he 't is too much to endure the ingratitude of a Barbarian patiently and I ought not to have suffered so much without making of him feel the effects of my just resentment I shall not be so for saken yet by the King my Brother and the Princes our Allies but that I can interess them in my quarrel I will cover the Sea with Ships and face Bizantium with other Sails than those of Merodates which I burnt other Troops than those of Chersonesus which I defeated for that ungrateful man I may possibly put him again into the condition out of which I freed him and it may be I may see him again in such an extremity that he shall be glad to receive peace to offer me Olympia He had passed a whole Night in these imaginations and the day following he was already fully resolved when contrary to his expectation he was informed that the King was coming to visit him He did so little look for this Visit considering upon what terms the King and he parted that he was surprized at it and the King was come into his Chamber before he had determined how to Treat with him The King accosted him with a serene countenance though with a little care one might have observed a great deal of constraint in it and without deserring to acquaint him with the occasion of his Visit I come said he to beg your pardon for the faults which my passion made me commit and to intreat you to impute all the effects of my ingratitude to the same love whereof you are sensible and which is the only cause of all our quarrels I am resolved to keep my word with you inviolably and to put Olympia into your power as a recompense most justly due to the greatness of your Services and the merit of your Person But because it is only by your own word that we know that you are Prince of Armenia though I will make no question of the Truth of it yet to avoid the blame which otherwise I might incur you may be pleased to give me leave to follow the Advice of my Council who have desired that the keowledge whith you have given us of your Birth should be confirmed to us before that you espouse the Princess Yet I do not desire to detain her here till we have received that confirmation that time perhaps would seem too long to the impatience of your love and I shall be willing my self to send her out of my sight as soon as may be that in her absence I may find a remedy for that cruel passion which hath been the cause of all my misfortunes To morrow without any longer delay I will send her on Shipboard with you to go towards Armenia under your Conduct but you must allow her to be accompanied by some person of Quality amongst my Subjects and a Convoy agreeable to her condition and you must promise me that you will not marry her till you arrive at the King your Brothers Court and have made your self known to the princess and those that bear her Company to be the Prince Ariobarzanes I owe this care at least to Olympia's Quality though I give absolute credit to that which you have told me concerning your Birth and you must not take it ill that out of decency I observe this formality in an Action of this importance Ariobarzanes was almost ravished with joy to hear these words from the King and being well assured that he could make the Truth of what he had told us concerning his Birth appear in Armenia both to me and to those that accompanied me he found nothing disadvantagious to himself in the Kings Proposition and therefore very readily embraced it Sir said he it was alwayes hoped that your Vertue would render it self Mistris of your passion and that it could not absolutely forget t self though it was obscured with some Clouds which love might produce in the sublimest Souls I receive the honour you do me with a great deal of joy and respect and I shall not be dissatisfied my self to certifie the Princess and the persons of her Retinue of the Truth of my Birth before I attain to the favour of enjoying her I assure my self that the King my Brother will testifie to your Subjects how joyful he is of our Alliance and that by this Action you will restore Tranquillity to your mind and all its lustre to your former Reputation After these words and some others full of Civility the King conducted him into my Chamber where to free me quickly out of the surprize I was in to see them come in together considering what had passed between them at the last Visit he made me the same Discourse that he had made to the Prince he desired me to pardon him for the displeasures he had done me and pray'd me to dispose my self to go the next day along with Ariobarzanes being unwilling any longer to be exposed to a sight of that which would alwayes hinder his Cure
and might possibly cast him again into those misfortunes which he had lately escaped I do not deny my fair Princesses but that the Kings Discourse filled me with as much joy as I was capable to receive and though I endeavoured partly to dissemble it the jealous King perceived enough to renew his grief I protested to him that I had no other Design but to obey him and that whatsoever esteem I had for Ariobarzanes I had alwayes declared to him that I would never give him any greater proofs of it without the consent of those persons to whom I owed that deference I told him that I should never have desired to part from him if I had not been too well acquainted with the bad effects which my presence produced in relation to his repose and mine and that since he desired that I should go I would be ready when he pleased promising him according to Ariobarzanes's Example not to marry him till I knew him very well to be Prince of Armenia The King seemed to be very much satisfied when things were thus agreed he made very magnificent Presents to the Prince and me and desired us oftentimes to pardon him if he could not yet resolve upon this separation without some Testimonies of grief We did not think it strange but did rather wonder very much that he was so suddenly inclined to a thing which a little before he seemed so averse from I will not detain you any longer with an unprofitable relation of those things which ordinarily pass in Actions of that Nature I took my leave and received the farewells of the whole Court of Thrace where without vanity I may speak it I left some regret to those persons who were acquainted with me amongst whom I had the good Fortune not to be hated and employed the rest of that day in necessary preparations for my departure The next day all things were ready and the joyful Ariobarzanes received me from the Kings hands to conduct me into a great and magnificent Vessel which Euribiades a man of the greatest Quality in Thrace and one of the Kings chiefest Confidents commanded for my Conduct with Two hundred men for our Convoy We took our leaves of the King and the whole Court which accompanied us to the Sea-side and there were some tears shed upon both sides though in the Kings face and actions I found more moderation than I had expected At last we went aboard the Vessel and set Sail from the Port of Bizantium taking the way towards Armenia by the Egean Sea with a Design to go by Sea to the farthest part of Cilicia and finish our Voyage from thence by Land I know not how to represent to you the joy which appeared in the Discourse and all the Actions of Ariobarzanes now he supposed himself to be upon the point of attaining to that which he accounted his supreme felicity what Transports he expressed to me in all his words what Caresses and Presents he made of those which he had received from the King to those that were of our Convoy and what greater recompence he promised them when he arrived in Armenia For my part I confess I was very much satisfied to see my self freed from Adalla's persecutions and to see my self upon the point of acknowledging freely the affections of a Prince very worthy of mine and for whom I had conceived so much We passed the hours in a very pleasing Conversation and I did more and more discover such charms in the Princes disposition as redoubled my Amity The memory of our past misfortunes began to grow out of date and was left as far as Thrace behind us and in short we thought our selves secure from all calamities when Fortune made us know that she was not reconciled to us and that we had no reason to put any confidence in her continual volubility We found our selves in greater miseries and more formidable dangers than those which we had escaped the Relation whereof you shall now receive though I assure my self it will not be without astonishment and horror We had sailed four dayes with a favourable wind and we had reason to hope for the same tranquility in the rest of our Voyage when I saw one of the chief of those who had Commission to conduct us named Antenor a man full of Valor and upon whom since the beginning of our Voyage the Prince had bestowed particular marks of his esteem come into the Cabin where Ariobarzanes was with me He accosted us with an Action which signified the importance of those things which he had to acquaint us with and addressing himself to the Prince without standing upon those Civilities which he was wont to render us Sir said he Prepare your self to defend your life with a small number of men who desire to dye at your feet Euribiades hath lately acquainted us with the Kings intention and shewed us an Order written with his own hand by which we are commanded to throw you into the Sea and to carry back the Princess to Bizantium Euribiades is resolved to put it in execution though I have endeavoured as much as I could to divert him from it and he hath now overpowred the resistance which he sound amongst some of our Companions who were immediately stricken with horror at the News There are above Thirty besides my self who are resolved to defend you to the last drop of their blood you have almost such a Number of Domesticks who may Arm themselves for the defence of their Prince and for their own safety and though our Enemies be thrice as many as we your Valor will partly supply our weakness and if we must perish as the danger is very great we will first revenge our deaths by the destruction of some part of these Barbarians Antenor had leasure to finish this Discourse to us by reason of the astonishment which had seized upon us at the beginning of it and he had hardly done speaking not I scarcely begun to cry out with Transport when we saw that Number of generous men come into the Cabin who were minded to dye in the defence of Ariobarzanes The Prince being quickly resolved advanced towards them with a very assured countenance and whil'st his Domesticks drew up about us and armed themselves with all speed My Friends said he to them There was little probability that Adallas should become vertuous after those Actions which he had committed I am sorry that your Generosity casts you into so great a danger for the love of me but if I cannot disswade you from the Design which you have to expose your selves to death with me let us dye at least in such a manner that a good part of our Enemies may not rejoyce in our Destruction He had hardly done speaking these words but Euribiades plainly perceiving that his Design being discovered he could not execute it but by open sorce appeared in the Head of his men at the Cabin-door I thrust my self before him
Artaban and ' twice in the same day we recommenced the Combat which was interrupted in Ethiopia Artaban said Elisa to him intermingling with their Discourse If you value my friendship and desire that I should esteem you you shall not only not be any longer an Enemy to a Prince who serves the Queen Candace but you shall contract as great an Amity with him as there is between this great Queen and I and you shall seek for opportunities to serve him with as much ardor as I have for the interests of the Princess whom he loves Artaban continued some moments without making a Reply and then upon a sudden resuming the Discourse Madam said he to Elisa the Prince of whom you speak doth so worthly deserve the esteem and the affection which you would create in me for him that 't was by the means of my misfortune only that the occasions which I thought I had to complain of him joining themselves to a natural repignance without reason and foundation made me resist the inclination which his Vertue â—ight have wrought for him in all the men of the World besides But though I had been a great deal more sensibly injured the declaration of your Will is so powerful over my spirit and the cause that gave birth to my first resentments hath so long ceased that I shall render to you without any repugnance the obedience which is due to you and to that Prince whatsoever he can expect from the most faithful of his Friends and the man who is best acquainted with his Uertue of any in the World These words proceeding from the mouth of a man who could not be suspected of any want of sincerity and freedom gave a great deal of satisfaction to the two Princesses and Candace turning towards him with a countenance that expressed her contentment I receive in Cleomedon 's stead said she a considerable Amity as that of the great Artaban ought to be and I promise you in the behalf of that absent Prince that he shall answer it with a freedom equal to yours Though he be absent replied Artaban I believe he is not very far off and if he got off from our Combat and from that we had afterwards against the Pyrats in such a condition as I did I believe he could not make any long Voyage But added he speaking to the two Princesses you know possibly where he is and in the mean time I cannot sufficiently wonder at the Fortune which hath brought you two together and in so small a time hath joined you in so firm a friendship You shall understand that at leasure said Elisa but in the mean while 't is as just that we should know from you by what miracle you are escaped from the Waves wherein my eyes beheld you entombed and where we had great reason to think that we had lost you for ever Artaban was about to return her an Answer when at first they heard a noise of Horses and afterwards turning about their Heads they saw a Body of Thirty or Forty Cavaliers who passed along the shore and marched towards Alexandria The Commander of this Troop had his Head unarmed and only covered with a little Bonnet shaded with a black Plume of Feathers the rest of his body was clad in Armor as were all the persons of his Retinue At the sight of the Ladies he left his Troop and turning a little out of the way where he left it he galloped towards the place where they were and he was no sooner come to them but having cast his eyes upon Elisa and immediately knowing her he remained so ravished at this incounter that for some moments he could not either by Action or Discourse express the perturbations of his Soul At last dissipating his astonishment O gods cryed he Behold behold her whom I seek for all the World over Having finished these words he threw himself hastily from his Horse and ran to the Princess of the Parthians Elisa at the first was surprized with his Action but she was a great deal more surprized and Artaban too when casting their eyes upon the mans face they knew him to be Tigranes King of the Medes Never was astonishment like to that of the fair Princess when she saw before her eyes a Prince whose sight after she had given him such great causes of resentment could not but be very formidable to her the man to whom the King her Father had given his consent the man that had espoused her by his Ambassadors and expected her in his own Dominions as his lawful Spouse and the same man whose Ambassadors she sent disgracefully back after that she was forcibly taken from their Conduct and had declared her intentions to them 'T is certain that at the sight of a Prince so highly offended and whom Elisa could not look upon but as a cruel Enemy the Princess was more like to one dead than alive and had not so much power as to stir out of the place where she was nor to utter one word 'T was at that moment that she took notice of the instability of Fortune seeing that when she thought her self redevable to her for the life of her Artaban upon whose death she had bestowed so many tears and when she was about to wipe away her sorrows by an unexpected felicity and to tast of an agreeable change in her condition she saw her self at the same time precipitated into the greatest miseries she could apprehend and fallen again into the hands of a man whom she was more afraid of than all the dangers to which she had been exposed to avoid him and under which neither Artaban's nor her own life could be otherwise than hateful to her Tigranes plainly perceived her strong surprize and not being ignorant of the cause of it he did not seem much troubled at it The usage he had received from the Princess did certainly give him matter of resentment enough but having a great deal of respect and love for her he believed that 't was not fit to make any uncivil use of this incounter nor intimidate Elisa's spirit by a rough demeanor towards her and so aggravate the grief which probably she might be sensible of for this effect of her bad Fortune He smoothed his countenance as much as possibly he could and he had no great difficulty to mollifie himself before a Beauty which might have wrought the same effect upon Tygers neither did he need to look far for humility before those eyes which might humble the proudest hearts In fine reflecting a great deal more upon his present happiness than upon all his past misfortunes he seemed to express in his countenance the change of his condition and accosting Elisa with an Action full of the marks of respect Be not astonished Madam said he to her at the meeting of a Prince whose Duty towards you nothing can dispense with 'T is not a Barbarian 't is not an Enemy that you have met and though the
and Agrippa's and Cornelius's men to defend him still as they had begun At the same time Tigranes being recovered from under his Horse and mounted again the Combat began more furiously than before and the King of the Medes being vexed at his bad Fortune which had laid him twice upon the ground and at the resistance that was made against his Design when he thought that nothing could possibly retard it encouraging his men with his voyce and example quickly caused the earth to be covered with divers bodies of either party 'T is true he could not choose but be afraid of Artaban's approaches and as couragious as he was he often grew pale at the mighty blows he saw him give And 't was not without reason that he feared him for if this redoubtable Warrior had been but Master of his ordinary strength and provided with good Arms all the obstacles he met with could not have hindred him from killing Tigranes in the midst of all his men and as he was he dispatched two of those whom their Prince loved best before his face with two furious blows he cut off a third mans Arm and gave Tigranes himself a blow which gliding down his Armor upon which his Sword did not fall right hit upon his Horses Neck and gave him a great wound wherewith he was quite covered with blood but almost at the same time his own Horse had received divers hurts under him and began to stagger being ready to fall Besides the Number of the Medes far surpassing those that defended Artaban and they being some of the bravest men of their Nation this valiant man was still in danger of his life when they saw a Body of above Fifty Horse coming from Alexandria and presently those that fought for Elisa cried out with a great deal of joy that 't was Agrippa and Cornelius And indeed they were the same persons whom the good Destiny of Elisa and Artaban had conducted forth to meet the Princesses and having met first with Queen Candace all in tears she gave them a short Account of Elisa's misfortune and the danger of those persons that fought in her Defence Agrippa having rendred what was due to the fair Queen and leaving the care to Cornelius to cause her to remount into the Chariot he flew in like an inraged Lion upon this occasion to serve the Princess whom he adored and immediately seeking for Tigranes as for an Enemy that would deprive him of that he loved he had no sooner discovered him but he charged him with a fury that was fatal to the first that came within the reach of his Sword Elisa seeing him do it did not forget to entreat his assistance but her requests were unnecessary at a time when he was sufficiently animated by his own interest though otherwise he had vertue enough to do only upon the motive of his Duty whatsoever his love could exact of him Tigranes seeing this storm falling upon him and finding himself incapable to resist it got presently out of the Throng and understanding that it was Agrippa that charged him he cryed out to his men to yield and desired to speak with Agrippa Agrippa whom no passion could transport beyound the bounds of his Duty stayed at Tigranes's words and commanding his men to do so too he gave Audience to the King of the Medes as he desired The Combat ceased almost in a moment and all the Combatants drawing up about their Masters Tigranes on the one side at the head of his Troop and Artaban on the other side with Elisa whom he accosted presented themselves before Agrippa Tigranes beginning to speak first and knowing very well that he spake to a man whose Name was venerable to all that acknowlegded the Roman Empire My Lord Agrippa said he I know not what offence we have done you to be treated thus as your mortal Enemies and to see you embrew your weapons in the blood of my men who have not by any Action merited either Augustus's or Agrippa's Enmity Though I appear here in a condition unconformable to my quality I am King of the Medes and I do not think you would deal with Princes of my Rank as with common persons Persons of your rank said Agrippa if you be indeed what you speak your self do not discover themselves by such Actions as drew our Arms against you and not knowing you otherwise than by the condition wherein I saw you I could not treat you otherwise than as a man whom I found shedding the blood of our men and violently carrying away a Princess who hath taken Refuge between Cesar 's Arms. The Princess that I would carry away replied Tigranes is my lawful Spouse whom the King her Father in the face of the whole World delivered to my Ambassadors after that the Marriage was publickly Celebrated So that I cannot believe that either Agrippa or Augustus himself should think it strange that I should take her as being her Husband to conduct her to the Throne where she ought to command And if I have killed some of your men not knowing them 't was because they undertook the Defence of an insolent Fellow who having no other Advantages but what he hath acquired by his Sword and what he hath received by the Favours I have done him hath taken the Queen my Wife out of the hands of my Ambassadors hath brought her by Sea into this Countrey where I have met with her and hath opposed the Design which I had to take her again as my own Tigranes had spoken more if the impatient Artaban had not boldly interrupted him That Fellow said he who hath no other Advantages but those of his Sword is the same that wearing that Sword in thy Service without being obliged to it by any considerations preserved thy Crown when it was ready to fall into the hands of the King of the Parthians and that by the breach of thy word being become thy Enemy shamefully chased thee out of the Countries which that Sword had given thee defeated thee in a pitched Field took thee Prisoner gave thee thy liberty which thou didst not deserve and seeing thee return again in Arms vanquished thee in divers Battels and snatched that Crown from off thy Head which he had formerly setled upon it if such a man be worthy of thy scorn and cannot boast of any other Advantages than the Favours thou hast done him I appeal to the judgment of the great Agrippa who is sufficiently known to all the World to make me believe that Vertue is no less considerable to him than the lustre of a Crown From the time that Artaban had begun to speak Agrippa had begun to look upon him with Admiration and not only the mine of this valiant person might cause the astonishment and attract the attention of all that beheld him but the great things likewise which hapned in the Empires of the Medes and Parthians by the Valor of Artaban being spread over all the Earth had
not how to express the joy he resented at the good News which I brought how he Caressed me and how many Recompences he hath promised me the excess of his joy had like to have been prejudicial to him but I now believe it will prove an excellent remedy to advance his Cure he hath spoken words and done things that have made me judge there was never a more violent passion that his for Cleopatra But replied Megacles what are his thoughts for the Princess his Sister And what said he when you related how you met her He testified very much joy replied Aristus and if I am not deceived his spirit towards that Princess is something sweetned and I believe that the love he bears the Sister will despose him to pardon Artemisa part of that Fault which she committed for the Brother He uttered no Menaces against her as I thought he would have done and lastly he made me conjecture by his actions and his words that besides the satisfaction of recovering his Sister he should receive thereby a notable advantage through his hopes of conserving her as a powerful Hostage to procure the protection and even the assistance of Alexander All his words were full of Transports and all his Discourses commanding the safeguard of the Treasure which we had in our hands as of a thing more precious to him than his Kingdom and life and particularly hath ordained that we keep our selves well concealed within this Rock for the little time that we must stay fearing with some appearance lest we be discovered and so the Noble prey be taken out of our hand This fear will make him hasten his departure though it put his life in danger and certainly unless some accident happen to his wounds that may prevent he will be here to morrow to provide for our Journey into our Countrey so soon as he is in the Vessel Besides his impatience of seeing the Princess Cleopatra the fear of being surprized upon these Coasts if he stay longer will precipitate his departure from a house where all the objects are mournful the Master whereof or at least him that possesseth it and hath given a retreat to our King being dead after the most pitiful manner in the World and hath possest his Domestiques with so much regret that the place resounds with nothing but cryes and groans But have you not learn't said Megacles who was that charitable Host who bestowed so favourable a retreat upon our King You will be astonish't replied Aristus at what I am going to tell you I was so my self when after the death of this man his Servants who had carefully concealed his Name whil'st he lived declared to us that it was the Prince Tiridates Brother to the King of Parthia the same who sought a Sanctuary from Court to Court against the cruelty of the King his Brother and the same who in his young years we saw under the protection of our Court He dyed suddenly at some News as they saw which one of his Domesticks brought him and I believe that grief did never produce so prompt and marvellous an effect I was with the King who was giving me these Commissions when one came and told him after how strange a fashion his Host was dying The King to whom that Prince was discovered and who also knew the King was very much troubled and notwithstanding the incommodity of his wounds would needs assist at the last sighs of his life and causing himself to be covered with some of his Cloaths and leaning upon mine and my Companions Arm he went into the Chamber of the poor Prince He was just dead as we entred and amongst those of the Domesticks who drowned themselves in tears at his Bed-side through the assistance of many Torches which were lighted in the Chamber we saw two men of the noblest Mine and presence in the World the one sitting on the side of the Bed holding one of the cold hands of that poor Prince and the other who was but half-cloathed and the paleness of whose face declared him to be sick sate upon a Chair which was just at his pillow both of them testified a great grief for the death of Tiridates and the King my Master having accompanied theirs with his they a little after entred into Conversation The life and death of that unfortunate Prince whose Name neither the one nor the other endeavoured to conceal now after he was gone was the Subject of their Discourse and I protest I heard those two men speak the bravest things and after such a noble manner upon the instability of Fortune and the miseries of mans life that ever I heard They talked with the principal Officers of Tiridates how his body might be transported into Parthia that he might be buried in the Tomb of his Ancestors and he that sate upon the Bed-side would that they should build him another Monument upon that shoar and writ with his own hand an Epitaph to be inscribed thereon As for him of the two that sate upon the Bed whose Mine and Conversation was sweet and charming we knew him not But the other who sate upon the Chair whose Mine was more fierce though pale so soon as we had seen him by the Torch-light we observed some features in his face which neither his paleness nor the change which some years might have made could conceal but so soon as he opened his mouth the tone of his voyce was not less familiar to us and my Master upon these suspitions beholding him with attention perceived that the man beheld him with an earnestness no less than the Kings perhaps the Torches would not have resolved their doubts but a little after the day appeared and the King through the incommodity of his wounds being desirous to pass into his Chamber and betake him to Bed this man either through design or chance arose at the same time and went the same way they met together upon a little Gallery where the King stayed to see him pass by he stood still also when he came where the King was and they fixedly beheld each other in a place where objects were easily discovered and the day-light was great enough upon the Gallery to draw them out of their doubts they beheld each other for some time without speaking whether it were to confirm their opinions or whether being no longer doubtful of the Truth they were uncertain how they should man age their knowledge but at last that man the most hardy of mankind taking the word Doubt not said he to the King if thou art Artaxes but that I am Britomarus These words opened the King eyes and as naturally his Soul was sufficiently proud he could not brook so fierce a dialect from a man of a quality so inferior to his It is true said he that in beholding thy face I call to mind a man whom I have sometimes seen in my Service neither have I forgotten that after I had raised him by my favour to
imployments and dignities to which he had no right to aspire he quitted my party so soon as Fortune began to be mine Enemy The audacious Britomarus beholding the King with a disdainful smile As I followed thy party without any obligation replied he till by thy Cruelty and unworthy Treating me thou madest thy self unworthy of my Service thou may st easily judge what esteem I made of thy dignities by my great unwillingness to forsake them and if Fortune for sook thee when I did thou needest not wonder that those Victories which thou heldest by my Sword only should follow the same Sword that brought them The King grew pale with anger at this Discourse and impatiently supporting these audacious words of Britomarus Time said he hath not abated thy pride but were I in another condition thou should'st not speak with so little respect to the King of Armenia Artaxes replied he disdainfully since our separation I have seen more than one King humbled beneath me and possibly thou should'st soon be so thy self had I not regard to the condition wherein I find thee and to the remembrance of Arsinoe and Ariobarzanes I know not what were the Kings thoughts to whom Britomarus's Valor was too well known to be despised but both were without Swords and ours were in the Chamber but I believe this their strange Conversation would at last have run to the utmost extremities had not that man of the noble aspect whom we left in the Chamber with Tiridates appeared upon the Gallery and interposed between them conjuring them not to make a greater disorder in a house wherein grief had already produced so mournful effects Britomarus received this intreaty in good part and testifying by his proud face less choler than disdain he retired with his Esquire that accompan ed him into a Chamber which was at the end of the Gallery and the King being in his we did put him to Bed He continued a good while most livelily touched at this Encounter and I doubt not but he formed many Designs against the life of Britomarus which his feebleness would not permit him to execute In the mean time the Unknown being called away as I believe by his Affairs left order with the Officers of Tiridates to prevent the meeting of the King and Britomarus and they promised an exact care therein The King meditating a long time both upon his anger and his love at last considering his unability to express his resentments against Britomarus and fearing that in case he called us to him to revenge him upon that valiant man he should lose the occasions of keeping and carrying away the Princesses for once he made his anger give place to his love and deferring his revenge until another time he sent me with Orders that you carefully preserve the illustrious Prisoners and commanded me to return to morrow a little late to assist at his bringing hither Thus finished the Armenian and Megacles made reflexion upon all that had been related and particularly upon the Encounter of Britomarus and the two Princesses who had attentively hearkned learn't by this Discourse some part of their Destiny Cleopatra understood with much grief that on the morrow they must leave the shoar of Alexandria and fall yet more into the power of that barbarous King and Artemisa though part of her fears diminish't at the News of the Kings milder inclinations towards her yet could thence draw no consolation for her love being unable to resolve without a mortal grief to be separated perhaps for ever from her beloved Alexander yet had not all hope forsaken them that that day which Artaxes's wounds gave them might be a day of succours through Alexanders means and the assistance of those whom that Prince might draw to his succours in a Countrey which obeyed Cesar and in a Countrey wherein the very Name of Cleopatra's Children was considerable the two Princesses communicated this thought to each other and hearing neither of those two men speak whose Discourse was ended or else they were in some other part of the Ship thus began their sad entertainment on this adventure and although in appearance they had enough to do with their own Fortunes without medling with others yet Cleopatra could not hear of the death of Tiridates whom she had known at Rome and whose vertue she had in great esteem without a very sensible affliction neither could Artemisa apprehend the Encounter which the King her Brother had with Britomarus whose name and person was very well known being drawn thereto by his brave Actions whilst he lived in Armenia without interessing her self in the adventure Cleopatra demanded who that hardy man was who spake to Kings with so much fierceness and Artemisa who had the same opinion of his vertue as the rest of those that knew him replyed It is a man said she who appeared like a bright Sun amongst the men of our Nation and who if the other Actions of his life do correspond with those of his youth may deserve a condition as high and great as his ambition we knew him but very young our sensibility of his loss might make us say that he passed from us so swift as lightning of a mean birth he is great above Princes and if Fortune answer his Valor and Vertue he will soon receive from his Sword the Crowns which Fortune hath denied to his house He is sierce and presumptuous beyond the bounds which his condition seem to prescribe but that fierceness appears in him so naturally well placed that one cannot condemn it nor imagine him any thing below the person he represents These words stirred up the curiosity of Cleopatra to understand more of the Fortune of Britomarus and Artemisa briefly related part of what he did in Armenia and by her Discourse raised in that Princess as much esteem for him as aversion for Artaxes at the recital of that cruel Action which caused Britomarus to leave his Service After that the fair Princesses had spent some moments in this entertainment they found their eyes heavy and their bodies wearied and distempered through their long watching so that permitting sleep to steal upon them they gave some interval to their displeasures Whilst they slept and that Cleopatra's Maids slept also or careful of her repose kept themselves in the Chamber with a profound silence The Armenians who guarded the Vessel endeavoured to acquit themselves exactly of their charge and though they treated the two Princesses with all respect and deference and took great care that they might be well served yet they guarded them so carefully and so prevented their discovery under the Rock which quite hid them from those that on the shoar might seek them so that these lilustrious persons had but little hopes from thence Megacles who commanded in the Kings absence walked upon the Deck giving orders to those that were about him and on a sudden he thought some strange noise descended from the Top of the Rock whose head shot
Discourses of his Voyages that the Princess Artemisa desired him to divert part of Cleopatra s sadness and Megacles being willing to satisfie them related manythings worth attention and capable of charming some part of their griess but when he had described what he had seen most memorable in the Courts of Capadocia Cilicia Mesopotamia Thracia and many other Kingdoms and having told them that he passed the Bosphorus entring and making a considerable stay in Scythia Cleopatra interrupting him hattily That Alcamenes King of Scythia of whom you speak said she and whose Actions have given him the surname of Great is now with Augustus unless the Tempest by which we had almost suffered Shipwrack hath divided them and is to accompany him to Alexandria It is very strange replied Megacles that so great a Prince as the King of Scythia who hath no dependance upon the Empire and who knows no greater than himself in the world except the Emperor of the Romans and the King of Parthia should put himself into the power of another Prince it being a thing never done but with great formalities and precautions The Reputation of Cesar replied Cleopatra and the free spirit of Alcamenes hath made him infringe these considerations and the King of Scythia in whom the glory of Augustus hath raised a great emulation and passion to see him having learnt that he must go into Macedonia sent Ambassadors to demand his Alliance and Friendship and to tell him That if he would give him his word he would pass over the Custome of the Kings his Predecessors who never passed their own bounds unless to make War and come into Macedonia that he might see the greatest man of the world and the worthy Successor of great Cesar who had filled the whole Earth with his glory Augustus believing himself obliged by the Civility of that King whose Ancestors never feared the Roman Armies and having heard marvels related of him notwithstanding the great distance between and the little communication that the Romans have with the Scythians he testified a great desire of knowing him and also believed that his Alliance could not but be profitable towards the establishment of the Empire Upon this account he honourably received the Ambassadors and replied by Decimus Fabius whom he sent back with them that he should with joy receive the offers of his friendship that he had a great desire to see a Prince whose fair Reputation had often reached his ear and he not only gave him his word which nothing was able to alter but in case he desired it he would advance himself and contract the way to see him With this Answer the Emperor ordered that Livia should send a magnificent Present to the Queen his Wife whose name and adventures are no less known than that of the King her Husband Alcamenes intirely confident in the Emperors word having left the government of his Kingdoms to the Queen who is no less capable thereof than the bravest men departed thence accompanied only by Five hundred Horse and came to find Cesar in Pella the capital City of Macedonia The Emperor made him a most honourable Reception and treated him with much more deference than he ever testified to any other King and in my opinion his esteem was very just for beside that the Mine of this Prince is as good as any I have seen all things in him appear so great that he hath much more of the Hero and of the Demi-gods of Antiquity than of ordinary men Had you heard replied Megacles the Relation of his admirable Adventures you would have beheld him as a person much more extraordinary for before he came to the Crown there hapned to him in the course of his Loves things so little common that were not the memory thereof fresh and the testimonies publick they would be rather taken for Antique Fables than real Truths I believe that the distance and little Commerce between the Scythians and other Nations may have deprived you of part yet I believe not so but that you have heard mention thereof It is true replied the Princess I have heard of many valiant and amorous Deeds which have rendred this Prince famous in many parts of the World but what I have heard hath been confusedly related and I know not whether my Sister said she looking upon Artemisa hath had any clearer knowledge I have heard many things replied Artemisa but with as little order as you and I doubt not but if you have a desire to know the particularities Meglacles can give you a full information knowing that he is too curious and too intelligent not to have learnt them whilst he stayed in Scythia It is true replied Megacles that there are few persons in the World who know those passages better than my self having taken care to inform my self even to the least circumstances and if Great Princesses you will both promise me to receive the recital as some refreshment to your griefs or at least whilst the Relation lasts to suspend some part thereof I will do my endeavour to relate things worthy your attention Cleopatra and Artemisa being willing to be acquainted with those Adventures which had made so great a noise in the World promised Megacles what he demanded and he being willing to comply with them so much as he could possible having taken a Seat at their command he thus began the expected Discourse THE HISTORY OF ALCAMENES and MENALIPPA BOOK I. THE adventures which I take upon me to relate are not such as arrive in the courses of ordinary lives and principally to great Princes such as Alcamenes who by his birth and the rank he holds amongst the most puissant Kings seems that he ought not to be exposed to particular Accidents more proportionate to the fortunes of a private man than to that of a Monarch of whom likely the most remarkable actions ought to pass at the head of Armies in a splendour conformable to their Dignity The Scythian Monarch as you know is not only the most ancient of the world but also the greatest and most puissant and after the Roman Emperour and the King of Parthia there is no Soveraign that possesseth a greater Countrey than the Scythian King nor who commands a more War-like people Never could the greatest Conquerour amongst either the Greeks or the Romans extend their limits upon the Frontiers of Scythia neither did ever the most powerful or the most happy carry a War thither but to their own confusion I will not give you a description of this Kingdom nor of the manners of the Inhabitants 't is known to all the Earth and few persons are ignorant of the valour policy and simplicity of the ancient Scythians or those now living I will only add that what hath been reported of their former poverty will appear otherwise at present and although the Scythians affect less pomp ceremonies and riches than many other Nations are nevertheless sufficiently proud in their Armes Equipages beautiful Cities
retired having left him the sole command of the Army he gain'd a memorable Victory terminating that War by the most glorious successes could be desired These marvellous beginnings fam'd the reputation of Alcamenes through all the neighbour Kingdoms they talked every where of Alcamenes as of a prodigie of valour and the noise overtaking all places arrived in Dacia possessing the irritated Queen with a mortal displeasure fearing this young Prince as a potent obstacle to her designs of one day possessing his fathers Territories and this rendred the name of Alcamenes both to the Mother and to the Daughter as odious as that of the King his father The Scythian Monarch who had a great and generous soul view'd with an incredible joy these transcendent actions of Alcamenes and beholding in him nothing but grand and elevated above the rest of man-kind treated him as an extraordinary Son a Son given by Heaven for the glory and consolation of his dayes and as a Prince who would bear the honour of Soythia to a higher degree than it ever yet arrived and moreover being acquainted with the Queen of Dacia's practices and the preparations she made against him who with those succours she hoped to draw by her Daughters beauty was not to be despised he believed himself furnished in the person of Alcamenes with a valiant desender and disdained more than formerly the evil designs of his adversaries He had often spoken of it to the Prince and perceived him burn with a generous resentment against those enemies of his Family and a vehement desire to measure his Sword with whomsoever the perswasions of Amalthea or the beauty of Menalippa had armed against his father desiring rather to carry the War into the enemies Countrey than expect it in their own The King who was as moderate as valiant and who now loved peace as well as formerly he had done the Wars reprov'd without condemning the noble heat of his Son alledging that he ought after the examples of his Predecessors contain himself within the justice of his cause and expect the enemies on-set before he endeavoured their ruine and besides he had compassion on a Queen whose resentments could not be condemned though they were not entirely reasonable and who transacted more through the love she bare her husband than out of any hope she could conceive to conquer Scythia Alcamenes in whom generous resentments found all manner of approbation troubled not himself to combate these reasons and easily excusing the revenge of Amalthea and Menalippa both through the respect he bore to their sex and by the report he heard of the beauty of the Daugther and vertue of the Mother so that turning his anger against those Princes who had embraced their interest he no more solicited the King his father to begin this War Besides this consideration which prevailed upon the spirits of these two Princes they understood that the irritated Queen instead of being in a condition to fight them was imbarked in another War against the Prince of the Sarmates and the Prince of the Nomades upon some dispute they had with Amalthea about the extent of their Frontiers The King Arontes might have taken this advantage against his Enemy and others possibly would have done it but he judged it unworthy his courage and the Prince his Son boyling as he was for occasions to get glory had not the least thought to lay hold on this advantage But although the King of Scythia tasted the greatest satisfaction in the company of a Son so brave and so lovely he was forced to part with him through the necessities of his affairs and ordered him a journey into some Provinces where the Father's or Son's presence were absolutely necessary Alcamenes departed from Palena where the King then made his abode and transported himself into those places whither he was sent by his presence he reduced all things into an entire tranquillity But having bravely acquitted himself of his Commission given by the King his Father instead of returning where he was expected he found himself prest with an ardent desire to travel and visit unknown some stranger Courts few persons 't is possible have known his true designs which came not to my knowledge and I have thought with the rest of the world that curiosity only and a youthful desire led him to that resolution which many have condemned But whatever was the cause he writ a Letter to the King wherein with many excuses he begg'd his pardon for this sally of youth professing that he left him only to render himself more worthy to serve him by the experience he hoped to reap by his Travels promising not to absent himself longer than a year and during that not so far from Scythia or Dacia but easily to observe the motions of his enemies in which case he would abandon all things to render his King that service to which his duty obliged him he accompanied these promises with words full of humility and submission to efface the resentment which the King might conceive for his fault and having given the Letter unto the principal of his servants with whom he returned all his retinue retaining only two Squires to accompany and serve him in his Voyage and on this manner maugre the resistance of all his attendants he leaves them and takes his way by the side of the Boristhenes to go towards Bizantium I 'le not entertain you with the return of his People to the King nor the Kings grief at this unhappy news you may believe it was excessive and Orontes had need of all his courage to resist this displeasure yet he had a firm confidence in the Princess promise and knew his courage too well to believe any thing could recall him save the War that threatned his Father he only feared those dangers to which he might be daily exposed in an equipage so little conformable to his dignity and turning all his thoughts this way he not only caused publick vows to be offered to the gods for his preservation but commanded some persons in whom he had most confidence to march after him with express order not to leave him what commands soever he gave to the contrary whilst this Prince Adventurer carried with a youthful desire to see the world visited a part of Thrace under the name of Alcimedon which he would take to disguise his own and seeking occasions to signalize himself in some Wars wherewith this Kingdom was troubled by divers actions of extraordinary valour he rendred the name of Alcimedon famous through all Thrace obliging the old King Adallas Father of this which now reigns to entreat him to come to his Court. Alcimedon went and by his good Mine added greater credit to the fame of his actions receiving all manner of Carresses from this good King he would not here make any long abode though they offered him charges as much as they thought above him as they were indeed below him the fear of being known in a Court
condition was obliged to shew them some exterior respect and to seek in secret what they openly pretended to yet thought not his Fortune any thing worse desiring rather to be secretly lov'd than publickly esteemed Whil'st these interessed Princes beheld his access to Menalippa his frequent converse with her and many other testimonies of her esteem which she would not hide they began to regard him with envy and a little after this jealousie increasing by the appearances that caused it they entertained a mortal hatred against him and believing him their Inferiour would sometimes treat him with disdain but though Alcimedon did disguize his Birth and pass in that Court for a private person yet in these incounters he would not belie himself nor give place to these Rival Princes his Enemies no more than if his true condition had been known One day they were together in the Queens Cabinet who entertained them about the War of Scythia to which she daily prepared her self Euardes who was the most inconsiderate made a Hundred Discourses full of Bravadoes against the King of Scythia the rest seconded him in the same manner one brag'd he would depopulate Scythia another promised to present the Queen with the King Orontes's Head and the most modest assured her they would lay at her Majesties feet both the King and the Prince his Son charg'd with Irons Alcamenes though he derided their presumption yet could not suffer it without Reply and addressing himself to the Queen having beheld the Princes with disdain Madam said he though your Forces are great and the assistance of these Princes considerable I counsel you to prepare to the King of Scythia's Defeat as to a business much more difficult than they represent it and to forget nothing that may advantage you in an Enterprize where you I have need of all I know the power of Scythia which is not less than that of all these Princes together I know the King Orontes who in valor and experience may not be equalled by any of those who imagine themselves able to carry so assured a Victory over him I have seen his Son Alcamenes fighting with a Courage might make the most hardy of these tremble who imagine themselves able to Chain him with so much facility Alcimedon had scarce'uttered these words but he repented them fearing he had said too much to conceal the interest he had in the King of Scythia the four Princes murmured together and Euardes who spoke first believing himself most interessed in the Discourse of Alcimedon took the word and casting a regard on the Prince of Scythia which sufficiently signified his resentment It seems said he you intend to terrifie us with the praises you give our Enemies we know Orontes and have heard of the Prince Alcamenes but we know nothing of either that might make us apprehend the ill success of this War and you are misinformed of our Valors if you imagine we can tremble for one Alcamenes or many Alcimedons though they imbrace his Party Euardes replied Alcimedon wish your self no other Enemies to joyn with him who of himself is strong enough without others assistance and believe that to vanquish one Alcamenes and many Alcimedons would require a great Number of Bithinian Princes Ah! it is too much Alcimedon cryed Merodates were you well affected to the Service of the Queen you would not take her Enemies part I beg the Queens pardon replied Alcimedon if I have failed in the respect I owe her in publishing Truths well known to me to the advantage of her Enemies I am nothing the less zealous to her Service and when we appear in the Field against her Enemies we shall see who will give the braver on-set whether those that praise or those that despise themselves This Discourse had passed further and without doubt had carried these Princes to extremities had not the Queen interposed her Authority and gently blaming Alcimedon who desired pardon and intreating these Princes not to quarrel with a man who was very affectionate to her and to whom the was redeemable for many great Services The four Princes united against Alcimedon but the Prince Barzanes who loved him dearly offered himself and all his Friends publickly and could not indure that the Queen should Treat him differently from the rest though there was in appearance a manifest difference Alcimedon besides those excuses he made to the Queen made many to the Princess Menalippa and she attributing what she had said to the grandure of his Courage which could not dissemble a Truth and partly out of aversion to those Princes whom he knew to be his Rivals took nothing ill but participating his resentments treated his Rivals with more disdain than before But they must leave Menalippa for the Queen having communicated her Design of marching against the King of Scythia so soon as the Princes had joyned the succours they designed for her obliged them to take leave and seek those Troops they had ordered to be raised intending to bring part of them into Dacia and the rest to meet at the appointed Rendevouz Euardes and Phrataphernes departed first being most distant having done all they could to obtain some shadow of hope from Menalippa Merodates and Orosmanes who were Neighbours retired not till some dayes after the one to the Tauriques the other among the Basternes But scarce were they gone when News came to the Court That the King of the Sarmates and the King of the Nomades Brother and Successor to him whom Alcimedon slew had broken the Truce upon some slight pretences and exercised all manner of Hostility upon the Frontiers The Queen whom this News troubled in respect of the delayes it brought to her Designs disputed not the Resolutions she ought to take Barzanes departed with the Troops which were ready to join with those left upon the Frontiers and Alcimedon knit to Barzanes by a strict amity also infinitely joyful to find in this War occasions of serving Menalippa at whose desire he took a command under Barzanes in the Expedition against his Father march't under him with a part of the Army against the Sarmates and Nomades You will pardon me if I inlarge not my self upon the Adieu's between Alcimedon and Menalippa in which either expressed all that a violent passion could render soft and touching and excuse me also if I particularize not a War so suddenly ended I will only say that after some light skirmishes upon the Frontiers Barzanes fell sick and was constrained to expect his health in a bordering'Town leaving the whole command of the Army to Alcimedon who managing his advantages with admirable prudence and leading on his Souldiers with incomparable Valour forc'd away the Victory in many considerable Combats he re-took divers Towns which the Enemy had carried by Surprize and having brought them to accept of Battel he gained it so bloody and so intire that Fifteen or Sixteen thousand men were slain upon the place the rest put to flight took the
any decessity Alcamenes having heard the King with much respect answered that he had rather lose his life than cast the least stain upon his honour which he had alwayes dearly preserved that he knew Alcimedon for a Prince full of valour and for a man whom the greatest Prince upon earth could not refuse without dishonour To these words he added many more so pressing that the King being naturally very generous was constrained to yield yet much less to the force of his perswasions than to the opinion of his valour against which he believed that of the unknown Alcimedon could make no long resistance The Prince sent an Herald immediately to the Camp of the Dacians to acquaint the Queen that having received the challenge of Alcimedon which her Herald had made in his absence he accepted it and would wait him at the place of Combate an hour after Sun-rising between both Armies with one Judge on his side and only a thousand Horse for the Guard of the Field The Queen Amalthea promised the same thing on the behalf of her Champion and the business being thus setled Barzanes was chosen Judge for Alcimedon and the Prince of the Massegetes for Alcamenes The night passed in the expectation of both parties of the event of so memorable a Combate and the knowledge which they had of the valour of each others Champions made them to expect this spectacle with extraordinary impatience The morrow so soon as the day brake all things were prepared though Alcamenes provided for this feigned Combate with repugnance and a divination of some misfortune Amalthea who was charged with all things that concerned Alcimedon made ready for him with no less diligence but the Gods had otherwise disposed of the event of this day than men had appointed for the unfortunate Cleomenes covered with the Arms of Alcimedon as Patroclus with those of Achilles had a like destiny He departed at the appearance of day from a Country-house where he had passed the night and to obey the Prince he marched with all diligence towards the Dacian Camp he was so fierce under these brave Arms of his Prince that he almost conceited he was metamorphosed into him but this innocent pride lasted not long for scarce had he made some paces in the Wood where the day before he had exchanged his Arms but he saw twenty Cavaliers making towards him who having encompassed him before he had time scarce to think on them cast him to the earth and pierced him through with their Javelings in a moment The cruel men stopt not there but part of them alighted ran upon him and lifting up the vizor of his Helmet they gave him several stabs in the face and throat When they thought he was dead they took Horse and made towards the Dacian Camp not touching either his Horse or Arms. The perfidious Orchemanes Prince of the Nomades the wicked enemy of Alcimedon partly for and in revenge of his Brother's death and partly for his own imprisonment had sent those Assasines to expect on the way by which the Prince must return into the Camp as he had learnt promising them for their performance great rewards and these cruel men had but too well acquitted themselves had not the Gods to whom the life of Alcamenes was dear prevented it by the fall of the unfortunate Cleomenes The Princess Menalippa having been troubled this night with some unlucky dreams and being very melancholly both for the Combate which Alcimedon was to undertake the next day with Alcamenes and out of the displeasure she received for not having spoken to him the day before To cure him of the fear of her displeasure she arose early in the morning seeking some divertizement amongst her Train which attended her She caused a Chariot to be prepared to take the Air and would only permit Belisa and the faithful Leander who remained still in her service and who by chance was not in the Queens Tent the day before and so mist the happiness of seeing his Master to wait upon her Menalippa accompanied with only these two persons giving order to tell the Queen when she awaked that she was gone to take the air in the Fields and would return after the Combate between Alcamenes and Alcimedon was ended desiring not to be present at it after which orders given passing through the Dacians Tents she caused her Chariot to be guided towards that Wood which was within sight of the Camp and wherein the unfortunate Cleomenes lay slain as the distance was not great the Chariot was quickly in the Wood and the Princess causing it to stay alighted and began to walk amongst the Trees leaning upon Belisa's arm and her spirit being possest with sad I dea's her converse was full of sadness and was disposing her self to disburthen her troubled heart when she saw a gallant Horse sadled and bridled feeding at liberty and lifting up his head to approach the Chariot-Horses he filled the Wood with sneezings this Horse being that whereon Alcimedon used to charge Leander thought he knew it and the nearer he came the more he was confirmed in his opinion he told the Princess what he thought but the had already cast her eys upon a Buckler which she saw lye some paces from the Horse and she no sooner beheld it than by its famous devize familiar to all the Dacians she knew it for Alcimedons She recoyled at this sight and calling Leander Thou shewd'st me Alcimedons Horse said she and I can shew thee his Buckler and by what we see we may judge he is not farr off Scarce had she pronounced these words when she saw the miserable Cleomenes under the Arms of Alcimedon and believed effectively that she saw Alcimedon strecht at the foot of a Chestnut Tree She thought he had been a sleep and making no difficulty to approach him intending to charm all fear which the suspition of her anger might have left upon his heart and to make him satisfaction for the ill treatment she had given him when drawing near this feigned Alcimedon she saw the ground covered with blood round about him and the great bubbles which issued out of the defaults of his Cuirass from those wounds which he had received in the face This spectacle forced cryes both from Menalippa and Leander and running on him together with precipitation they took off his Casque and Cuirass and Leander with a cloath wiped his face covered with blood and wounds and since in an other condition he very much resembled Alcamenes being of the same age and his hair of the like colour 't is not difficult to suppose that it being now disfigured with wounds he might be taken for Alcimedon All the courage of Menalippa made too weak resistance against this deplorable sight and whilst Leander cast forth cryes and tore his hair Menalippa more sensible than he though not less couragious lost all sense and knowledge and fell in a swoon upon the couragious pretended Alcimedon Belisa though
especially in a time wherein Fortune had been adverse to her and where she was forced to acknowledge that the surety of her Troops and safety of her person depended wholly upon his bounty She received the Prince in the presence of Merodates Phrataphern Barzanes and other principal Officers of the Army Amphimacus presented her with a Letter from Orontes by which he hoped to incline her more than by the mouth of his Ambassadour Amalthea opened it in the presence of the Princes and read aloud these words ORONTES King of SCYTHIA to the Queen of DACIA IT is not in my power great Queen to blot out of your memory the losse you have received by our Armes But I can easily represent to you that the King Decebalus dyed in the Field with his Sword in his hand without trechery cruelty or any circumstance that might inspire you with a greater hatred towards me than other common Enemies You have already powred forth much blood in his revenge and you ought to be satisfied with the death of a hundred thousand men whom you have sacrificed to his Ghost Few Women have so solemnly and gloriously acquitted them of their conjugal affection But it is enough Great Queen and I demand peace in a time when you may well judge I can nothing apprehend the event of the War There is blood enough spilt and I have pity both upon your Subjects and mine own And if you refuse it not I desire your amity and Alliance the gods as I am informed have promised the Crown of SCYTHIA to the Princesse MENALIPPA your Daughter and I offer it in presenting ALCAMENES for her Husband I beleive 't is thus the gods would be understood and all other wayes to advance her upon the Throne of our Ancestors will be found lesse easie MENALIPPA hath conquered SCYTHIA in a moment since in a moment she hath conquered the heart of ALCAMENES and this Prince whose life she assaulted with so much animositie layes the same life with the Crown I shall leave him at her feet The Prince of the TAUROSCYTHES whom I have impowred will negotiate according to your Commands so soon as you let him understand them and will testifie unto you how much I desire the union of our Crowns Families and Affections Whilst Amalthea readd this Letter the divers agitations of her Soul were legible upon her face and if on one side the resentment of the King her Husbands death possessed still her spirit filling it with aversion to the King of Scythia on the other part the advantage she found in his offer and the pitiful condition she was in through the defeat of her Amry of which in all likelihood she could expect nothing but the intire ruine disarm'd by degrees that revenge which she had preserved so many years forcing her to give Reason audience though hitherto she had preferred Passion and Animosity and beside comparing the offer of Orontes with the Oracles which had promised the Crown of Scythia to the Princess her Daughter her eyes were opened to these appearances and judged that it was by this Marriage and not by Force the Gods intended she should be Queen of Scythia Whilst she rowled these thoughts in her mind without expressing them to the Company Merodates being amorous of Menalippa and impatient of a proposition which destroyed his hopes cryed with precipitation that the offer of Orontes ought not to be imbraced and that the Gods Blood and Nature would be visibly offended in case Menalippa should marry with the Son of her Father's Murtherer Phrataphern full of amorous pretences confirm'd his exclamation and added what ever he thought capable to authorize it but Barzanes more prudent than they though he exceedingly resented the death of the King his Brother found no difficulty to tell the Queen after they had conducted the Ambassadour of Scythia into another Chamber that she ought to receive with open arms the Kings proposition and that this fortune which at this time was very great for Menalippa could not with prudence be rejected at a time wherein through the defeat of their Army they lay exposed to the mercy of the Enemy where neither the valour of Merodates nor Phrataphern could hinder them from being cut in pieces if the Scythians had any such intent The reasons of Barzanes were confirmed by all the Officers of the Army and by Pharnaces who having a few moments before lost all hope of re-seeing their dear Country could not hear the proposition of so glorious a peace and so little expected by all appearances without protesting aloud to the Queen that unless she intended their intire ruine she would not reject it Amalthea hearkned to this discourse as unwilling to be accused of the destruction of those Souldiers which remained by her obstinacy nor could she think without some joy upon the fortune which presented its self to Menalippa in a conjuncture of time when she expected to be expos'd with her to a multitude of disgraces so that maugre the crye of Merodates and Phrataphernes who would never consent but in a rage departed the Chamber she sent for the Prince of the Tauro-Scythes and told him that she willingly imbraced the Peace which he offered nor had she any repugnance to the Kings Alliance but it was just that she communicated it to her Daughter who had herein the principal interest and whose consent she would demand Amphimacus reply'd to this discourse of the Queen with much civility and respect who having left him with the King of the Sarmates and the principal Officers of the Army she with Barzanes went into Menalippa's Chamber to whom she read the King of Scythia's Letter and informed her that all the Dacians setled their desires on this Peace and Alliance and her self also who had a desire to terminate this War by an honourable conclusion Amalthea hoped that notwithstanding the hatred Menalippa had exprest against Alcamenes she would yet submit her resentments to those of her Mother and open her eyes to Orontes's advantagious proposition but scarce had she discovered her thoughts when the irritated Princess casting a transported regard at the Queen How Madam said she do you designe me for the Spouse of Orontes's Son who kill'd Decebalus and who would yesterday have taken away my life in your presence with the same Sword wherewith he hath slain three Kings fighting in your Quarrel and him against whom you have inspired me with so much hatred from mine infancy Daughter replyed the Queen It is not just that enmities should be eternal and prudence commands us to persevere in or change our resolutions and inclinations according as they are either advantagious or hurtful Alcamenes is very innocent of the King your Fathers death and in the death of the Kings his Enemies he hath done but his duty if he wounded you in the Combat not knowing you he treated you with respects so soon as he knew you and yielded to you with the Victory both his heart and
the World by the most unworthy and barbarous treason all that I could love amongst men and all that could carry me to these extremities which may make it appear to thee that I am weary of my life Thou shalt know no more and Heaven is my Witness that I would never have said so much to any one else dispose now of my destiny at thy pleasure preserve only in my death the respect due to the modesty of my Sex and the dignity of my Birth The tears which the remembrance of Alcimedon drew from Menalippa's eye stopt the course of her words and the King shaking his Head at her Discourse testifying the little Credit he gave to it Those reproaches of Treason and Unworthiness said he wherewith thou abusest Alcamenes will find little faith amongst men with whom his Actions are clear enough and if he hath slain any one that was dear to thee it must have been in Battel or in some of those Combats which thy Rage hath raised against him But Alcamenes is not yet dead and if it please the gods to leave him with me I shall have generosity enough to return thee free into thy Countrey and forget in favour of thy Sex and Beauty and Alcamenes love the bloody injury thou hast done me but if my Son dyeth of the wound received from thy hand by the immortal gods I will not leave his death unpunisht were Alcamenes dead I would lose that life without regret which I only preserve for his ruine and in which there remains nothing which can make me desire its conservation These words made the King judge that the Soul of Menalippa was possest with a powerful despair and he began to believe that her hatred might have another foundation than the King her Fathers death yet quite transported with grief and anger as he was he commanded them to take away the Irons from her hands and feet and to give her Garments conformable to her Sex if she would and instead of the Goal an Apartment in the Palace with order to guard her carefully yet so that she might taste nothing of Captivity save that of a Prison Menalippa praising the moderation of Orontes and unable to disapprove his resentments had some regret for his grief and being discharged of her Irons she retired into the appartment they offered her where she put on womans Cloaths not those they presented because they were her Enemies but such as she caused Belisa to carry with her she refusing any other attendants Whilst the wounded Prince disputed betwixt life and death his wound being so great that a complexion less robust than his could not have one moment survived the cruel stroak he passed the Night with great weakness and the day following when they took away the Playsters the fear ceased not and the Chirurgions only said as the day before there were some hopes and though his cure was difficult yet was it not impossible As they permitted not the Prince to speak so they permitted only such to stay in his Chamber that were necessary for the present necessity and it was in this solitude and silence that they perceived this poor Prince whose judgment in spight of his feebleness and violent Feaver was intire and sound studying upon his adventure unable to imagine by all conjectures that his wound came upon any other account save Menalippa's The King would not tell him what he knew for fear the News should increase his misfortune and affliction by letting him know that Menalippa had been charged with Irons and dragg'd to a Prison but that which the Princes thoughts were most busied on was that the Sword wherewith he had been wounded remaining after the blow in his body he believed that by this Sword he could clear himself of part of his suspitions and having called one of those which served him he commanded to bring it to him it was remarkable enough through the beauty of the Hilt to have caused some one in the Chamber to have it carried it away but by Fortune it was left and presented to the Prince who no sooner cast his eyes upon it but he knew it for the same he had along time worn under the Name of Alcimedon and which he had given to Cleomenes with the rest of his Arms and which he saw in Menalippa's hand in the first Combat This sight made him imagine that it was by Menalippa's hand he had been wounded and calling to mind that little of her face which appeared as she fell on him and remembring the Letter which Merodates received from her by Leander whom he believed to be still in her Service he no longer doubted but that it was from Menalippa that he received the wound This knowledge was the Parent of different thoughts and if it redoubled his grief to see the continuation of Menalippa's hatred he received also much consolation through the belief he had that to please Menalippa before he dyed he could not dye more gloriously than by her hand he rouled this thought sometime in his mind without speaking at last raising his voyce with a weak and an unassured tone Ah said he the gods be praised I dye by the hand of Menalippa He repeated these words divers times and a little after Well Menalippa added he since 't is your Will that I dye by your hand I willingly imbrace it and shall receive my death with an intire joy if I may be permitted to kiss the hand that gave it He stopt at these words casting his eyes sometimes on the fatal Sword and sometimes on those that stood round about him who conjured him to be silent if he desired to preserve his life but they were much more astonished when after he had kept silence sometime But why said he do I oppose my self to Menalippa's Will since she thrust not this revenging Sword into the odious body of Alcamenes but that he should dye thereby What should oblige me to suffer these Remedies which are contrary to Menalippa's intention In saying thus he would have carried his hand to the binding of his wound to tear them off but those which were with him knowing his intention had laid hold of his hands which by reason of his weakness were easily mastered whilst others went to advertize the King who was in a Chamber by and who never but almost by force left his Sons Bed-side Alcamenes stayed his hand when he saw the King for whom he had alwayes a great respect and this afflicted person who came to know the cause of his Despair telling him with are proach full of tenderness that he could not neglect his own life without hazarding that of his Fathers Alcamenes instead of answering to this Discourse beholding the King with a passionate Aire My Lord said he Menalippa is in your hands in the Name of the gods hide not from me where Menalippa is The King who imagined he could not long conceal the Truth confest it all and told him that for his sake
what reasons soever he had to the contrary he had taken Menalippa out of Prison dismist her Chains and given her an Apartment in the Palace with order to serve her like a Princess of her Birth Alcamanes peaceably hearkned to the King and when he had left speaking My Lord said he if you love the life of the unfortunate Alcamenes Treat Menalippa not as his Murtherer but as his Princess and Soveraign Queen in taking away mylife she only takes her own and when she pierceth this heart by a thousand wounds she only outrageth her self In the Name of the gods my Lord Order that instead of Prisons and Irons that they give her Crowns and Scepters if she will receive them from us and if she refuseth them from an Enemy detain her no longer in a Captivity which cannot but be odious to her and cause her to be conducted into Dacia with an Equipage sutable to so great a Princess and the Heir to so great a Kingdom Do me this favour my Lord if you will that I dye satisfied or live so long as the gods shall please to permit and in reward of that fidelity which I will preserve for this memorable Princess to my Tomb obtain the favour of her my Lord that before my last sigh I am injoy her sight a moment though it be only to receive reproaches from her fair mouth which will make me either the more contentedly dye or give forces to prolong this life as you desire He had said more if the King who beheld with what passion he made this Discourse had not left him promising to indeavour what he desired on condition that he would perform his part for the preservation of his life Alcamenes promised the King all that he would that he might obtain what he desired and the tender King without deferring it longer went into the Apartment where they guarded Menalippa This Princess who had appeared before him with shame in a mans Habit had now taken the Garments of her own Sex and the King seeing her in a posture wherein she had not appeared unto him could not refuse her the respect due to so extraordinary a beauty and his heart being touched to the quick with Alcamenes's desire he accosted the Princess no more as a Criminal but as the absolute Mistress of his Sons Destiny and tendring her the honour due to her Quality Princess said he Alcamenes dyes as you desire and the sooner cause you desire it he shall dye full of dissatisfaction if he first sees you not free and conducted into Dacia so soon as you desire in a condition conformable to your Birth I vow I should not have been so generous as to have permitted you to depart gloriously with the life of my Son and of a Son worthy a better Destiny but since it is his Will and possibly the last Will of this unfortunate Prince you are free and may depart this odious Countrey when you please I only ask this one thing of you if the prayers of a King whom you have rendred the most unhappy Prince upon Earth may touch you that you will permit Alcamenes to see you a moment and give you his last adieu This favour such as it is is possibly due to the reparation of the injury you have done me and it ought not to be refused to a Prince who receives from you his Deaths wound with so much respect and resignation Menalippa was not only astonish't at these words but she also resented a mortal affliction to find so much generosity in persons against whom her hatred ought to extend even to the utmost extremities And unable to dissemble the first resentments that presented themselves to her spirit Immortal gods cryed she can it be that a man who by so much wickedness hath arm'd me against his life should testifie so much vertue in the rest of his Actions Or must it be that Barbarians become innocent only to render me more guilty My Lord continued she turning towards the King I will see Alcamenes since you desire it not as the price of that life and liberty which you offer me and which I refuse nor to express any Repentance of the evil I have done him but to make him confess before you as he confest to me in our Combat that 't is not the Fathers offence which hath arm'd me against the Son and that the cruel Treason which he hath committed is worthy of a death less glorious than that which possibly he hath received from the hands of Menalippa your interest in his misfortune hath touched me and I shall be well satisfied that you learn from his mouth that which will partly justifie the injury I have done you In saying these words she walked towards the Apartment of Alcamenes with the King who accompanied her followed by Belisa who left her not and gave no time to the King to advertize the Prince of her coming The Curtains were drawn in Alcamenes's Chamber to exclude the light and the Bed was placed in a corner so obscure that one might enter the Chamber and approach the Bed without beholding his face but the passionate Prince beheld attentively that of the fair Princess and was so strucken that his forces were unable to support him Menalippa unwilling to make a long stay in the Chamber of Alcimedon's Murtherer and desiring to explain her self in a few words she cast an assured regard on that side where she saw the Prince and doing violence to her self that she might speak Alcamenes said she I come at the desire of the King thy Father to present thee the face of that unplacable Enemy whom thy black Treason hath arm'd against thy life even to the last moment of hers 't is thy Crime and thy Destiny which hath rendred me cruel and not my inclinations and thou art not ignorant that that black Action which the forrests and obscurities have hid hath made me return into thy bosom so just a vengeance Declare to the King thy Father that which thou didst confess to me or rather discover a Crime whereof thou didst boast in our Combat Modesty hath made me hitherto hide the interest I have therein even in the extremities whereto it hath carried our lives I will pass by thee whom I have no intent to satisfie and give thee to the justification I owe to the King thy Father that which I have refused to the repose of the Queen my Mother if the gods will prolong thy dayes and defend them against the Arms of Menalippa after the sight and repentance of thy Crime thy life will be more tranquill and if it be their Will that thou dyest of the wound I have given thee thou wilt justifie me amongst men and make that known for a just vengeance which by misunderstanding passeth for an effect of rage and cruelty I am not troubled at the loss of my life if in sacrificing thine I have satisfied the Ghost of him I love Thus spake Menalippa and she
added she that this generous spirit came whilst I slept indeavouring to disarm my spirit against Alcamenes and I begin to understand his threat of sending the Ghost of Alcimedon to me though I cannot imagine what power he hath so to do But Sosthenes since Alcimedon hath so dearly loved Menalippa and that Menalippa hath preserved so much amity for Alcimedon Wherefore after the loss of your Master have you not after Leanders example fix't your self in Menalippa's Service but in that of Alcamenes This Discourse began to trouble Sosthenes imagining with some movements of pity that grief had disturbed Menalippa's judgment but as he was preparing a Reply Leander entred the Chamber quite out of breath and accosted the Princess with a mighty astonishment Madam said he I come to tell you News that will certainly surprize you and fill you with Repentance for many of your Actions Menalippa whose spirit was already very unsetled had not power to answer which Leander taking for a permission to speak Madam pursued he in passing through the next street I saw two men fighting with a mighty animosity I drew near to part them but just as I came one of the two having received a mortal wound fell at my feet I drew near to help him but whilst I was upon this friendly office I saw my self incompassed with a great Number of others who came upon the same Account Your succours are unprofitable said the wounded person to me I perceive I must dye and the gods who at this time have justly deserted me have permitted this in punishment of the Murther I committed on the person of Alcimedon These words exceedingly surprized me How said I are you one of those that Alcamenes made use of to kill Alcimedon Alcamenes replied this man contributed nothing to the Death of Alcimedon it was by the Command of Orchomenes King of the Nomades whose Subject I am and who with Nineteen more of my Companions murthered that valiant man near the City of Nicea Alcamenes was so far from being Alcimedon's Murtherer that he revenged it on the person of Orchomenes whom he slew in the Battal These words having thrust me into a marvellous astonishment Friend said I in the Name of the gods hide not the Truth of that Relation which you have begun it is of so great importance and will conduce to the justification and repose of some so considerable persons that you may expect very great Rewards if the gods spare your life I pretend no longer to life reply'd he and in the last moments thereof I should be sorry to lye in charging my self with a Crime which will render my memory odious That which is only like to justifie me is that Orchomenes was my King and that I am a Nomadian by birth and at that time commanded those Troops which composed his Life-guard Then related he to more than Fifty persons that were present that Orchomenes having nourisht a violent hatred against Alcimedon for the death of his brother and the imprisonment himself suffered by his Valor no sooner saw this Prince return to the Dacian Camp but he designed his death and immediately after his departure from the Queens Tents caused some to observe which way he went and being informed he commanded me to take twenty more of my Companions and attend Alcimedon's return and kill him how he could promising excessive recompences and giving part before hand This order was punctually observed for the innocent Alcimedon the next Morning cast himself into our Ambuscado where he was born to the Earth and pierced with twenty wounds in the face and throat Thus Madam did he declare the circumstances so that there is no reason to doubt but that it was so carried a little after notwithstanding all our indeavours to prolong his life till the end of his Confession he dyed in our Arms and I ran with all diligence to relate the News which will be confirmed by more than fifty Witnesses This was Leanders Relation and Menalippa had too much confidence in his fidelity to doubt the Report and so called no other Witness but when she made reflection upon the dying words of Alcimedon who had uttered no other Name but that of Alcamenes her confusion remained and could perceive no light in these contrary appearances It is true said she aloud 't is true that Alcamenes hath testified too much vertue in all his Actions to be guilty of so black a Murther yet it is true replied she that Alcimedon did name Alcamenes and Alcamenes himself seemed to confess the Crime and to glory in the death of Alcimedon The Prince of the Massegetes who was present all this time understood nothing at all and Sosthenes who understood a part was ignorant of the rest and more astonisht than any He knew the Prince had never told the King his Father any thing of those Adventures which hapned to him under the Name of Alcimedon so that before the Prince of the Massegetes he would not speak more clearly to Menalippa not utter those things which his astonishment had put into his mouth but beholding her in a strange perplexity and mortal inquietude Madam said he you may believe Leanders Relation and if you will but see Alcamenes this one time I dare promise you that you will be certainly convinced it was not he who slew Alcimedon The Princess confounded raising her self at these words Yes Sosthenes said she I will revisit Alcamenes and this Truth which I desire to know is sufficiently important to make me pass beyond my resentments I cannot understand after those words I heard from him how he could be innocent of Alcimedon's death but if he be really so I will so repair the Cruelties which I have exercised towards him that I am sure he will grant my pardon At these words she arose and desiring Sosthenes to demand the Princes leave to see him she followed him immediately and was almost so soon there as he The Prince whose wound had made many promises that day of amendment and the King who was with him understood with astonishment her demand nor could they divine the cause though the Prince imagined his Letter had done it and resolving his spirits against any thing cruel or funest that could arrive he prepared to receive this second Visit of Menalippa with more courage than the former and the King thought he saw some beams of joy darting a good augure from Sosthenes's face Menalippa entred the Chamber followed by Leander and Belisa but it was with less fierceness and more sweetness than formerly The King caused a Chair to be set for her by Alcamenes's Bed where being fate Alcamenes said she with an assured countenance I come to make that reparation which I owe to you if you are innocent or which I owe my self if you are guilty of that Fact which I would have punished by the loss of your life I will make a confession of that before the King and other persons here present which
I refused to confess in the extremities of my life to my own Mother and which I would never confess to any were my own life only interessed therein I have loved since I must acknowledge it with an innocent affection the valiant Alcimedon his Birth was never known to me though I am not ignorant that it was of the most illustrious amongst men but I have loved in him all the vertues and with so much innocence and purity that this asseveration makes me not blush I have lost him by a dismal accident on that day he should have fought with you I saw him mortally wounded under those Arms known to all Dacia by the brave Actions he performed under them and as he was giving up the Ghost in my Arms I demanded the Name of his Murtherer and could draw nothing out of his mouth but the Prince of Scythia That which I owed to his revenge made me forget my Sex love listed me a Souldier and I covered my self with the Arms of my dear Alcimedon to revenge him by the death of Alcamenes and it hapned that in that Combat you spake to me of Alcimedon and boasted that you had punished his boldness uttering whatever could confirm me in the opinion I had conceived you know what effects it hath produced since love rendred me furions to revenge him I loved and I have not spared your life having first exposed mine to all manner of disgraces You have accused me doubtless of cruelty but you would rather have excused me were my passion sufficiently known to you In brief I have believed you the cruel Murtherer of my beloved Alcimedon but this day that belief hath been shaken by contrary appearances the King of the Nomades is accused of this Fact and I have rather believed it of him than of such a Prince as Alcamenes in whom I have alwayes found too much vertue to have believed him so guilty had not mine eyes and ears imposed a contrary opinion Many things do perswade me that you are innocent and the spirit of Alcimedon it self resisted this Night the resentments I had against you and complained of the wound you received from me yet it was from Alcimedon's own mouth that I learnt his destiny and you your self spake to me of Alcimedon as of a person whose most secret thoughts you knew My Soul is so troubled at so many contrary appearances that I know not whereon to rely and I should lose my judgment but that Sosthenes makes me hope that you will draw me out of this cruel uncertainty if you are innocent of this Crime I will repair with the last drop of my blood the injuries I have done you if not I will endeavour to satisfie Alcimedon's Ghost by sacrificing my own life not indeavouring any thing more against yours which after the generous treatments which I have received from the King your Father and your self I cannot attempt without ingratitude Thus spake Menalippa And Alcamenes who called all his courage to his assistance lost not one of these words But O gods what expressions can represent the state of his Soul at this change of his Fortune He apprehended at the same time not only that he was not hated by Menalippa not only that her great Soul was touched with pity for him and that he now ceased to be the object of her cruel hate which had produced so many funest effects but also that all those violent demonstrations of her hatred against Alcamenes were the most tender and most passionate proofs of her love to Alcimedon in short the wound he had received the blood he had lost the dangers he had run both from the hand of Menalippa and all those Enemies whom she had raised against him were so many testimonies of the most violent love he could have desired his Princesses heart to be possessed with Certainly great Ladies it will be very hard to apprehend to what extremities this knowledge carried him and if grief had almost cast him into the Tomb joy wanted but little of producing the same effects he strove with it a long time knowing he should need all his Forces to resist it and though he could not become an intire Master yet he obtained so much of his patience as was necessary to advance his Fortune to the uttermost He remained a long time unable to speak and gave Menalippa leasure enough to interpret his silence amiss but having dissipated part of that which impeded his Discourse Yes Menalippa said he Alcamenes hath punished the audacious Alcimedon but Alcimedon too glorious to be beloved of Menalippa hath forgiven Alcamenes those things he made him suffer and Alcamenes cannot complain of Menalippa 's cruelty if Menalippa still loves her Alcimedon He spake only these few words and there needed no more to make Menalippa know the beloved voyce of Alcimedon Belisa and Leander who knew it notwithstanding the respect of the place cryed both together and the Princess impatient or rather transported drew the Curtain to view Alcamene's face and there found maugre its paleness all the lineaments of Alcimedon A while she resisted these appearances which she could not but suspect comparing what she saw to what she had seen the Prince perceived her astonishment and taking courage from his good Fortune Doubt not Madam said he that this Alcamenes whom you have so hated is the same Alcimedon whom you confess to have so dearly loved and as you never declared to the Queen your Mother the affection you bear Alcimedon so did I never acquaint the King my Father that Alcimedon was Alcamenes Him whom you saw exspire under mine Arms was without doubt the unfortunate Cleomenes whose story you shall know hereafter and if you remember the words I spake to you in the Combate you will judge that Alcamenes as Alcimedon might speak them of Alcimedon And lastly Madam continued he taking one of her fair hands and pressing it with a thousand fiery kisses the same Alcimedon who promised you the Crown of Scythia is still in a condition of making you the same offer through his Fathers bounty and if you will permit him to pass at your feet the reliques of that life which the Gods shall afford him you will too generously repair those evils he hath suffered by you and thereby render me as happy and glorious as even now I supposed my self miserable Alcamenes added many words to these during which the Princess was partly recovered from her astonishment and possest with so immoderate a joy that it had likely to have proved mortal After a strong resistance neither modesty nor the Kings presence could hinder her from throwing her arms about his neck and pressing him with so much affection that the Prince unable to resist so dear carresses had almost fainted in her arms Alcimedon said she my dear Alcimedon expressing by these words only the tenderness of her heart better than by the most eloquent she could have spoken a River of tears whose course she could
not resist succeeded and opposed themselves to all the tumultuous expression she would have uttered but having given to her joy all that she could not refuse to Alcimedon living she began to consider Alcimedon dangerously wounded by her own hand and this consideration had almost carried her into her former transports of grief How often in a moment did she ask pardon for her cruelty with a torrent of tears how did she detest that cruel hand which gave the unhumane blow and how often did the transported Prince protest that her greatest favours had never been so sweet as this precious wound which had given him so infallible a proof of her affection for Alcimedon I shall abuse your patience great Princesses if I draw this discourse to a greater length and since there is nothing more considerable to say I shall conclude in a few words The first transports being over the King drew near to participate in the common joy and having joyned to the pardon which he begged of Menalippa for his resentments against her his thanks for her affection to Alcimedon he understood by Leander and Sosthenes all his Son's adventures to the least particulars and Menalippa recounted the cause of her errour to proceed from Alcimedon's change of Arms with Cleomenes and Alcamenes learnt poor Cleomenes's fate whereof till then he had been ignorant The wound of Alcamenes was the only obstacle to their happiness and it pleased the Gods that within a few days they lost their fears of him and a little after he quitted his Bed and Chamber recovering with his fortune his strength and courage though with displeasure to see himself so soon cured of a wound which he had received by a hand so dear and upon an account so glorious He was scarce cured when the King having obtained Menalippa's permission sent the Princé of the Tauro-Scythes to the Queen Amalthea to relate the wonderful adventures of these two Lovers and demanded her consent to the Marriage To which she agreed with exceeding joy and a satisfaction much more intire when she understood that Alcamenes whom she had sometime so hated was Alcimedon whom she so dearly loved She sent into Scythia the flower of her Court to assist at the ceremony of so famous an Alliance and the Prince Barzanes ravisht with joy at the fortune of his friend and pardoning him the refusal of his Daughter was the chief of that proud Ambassage At last they arrived at Serica where Alcacamenes excused his ingratitude to Barzanes and received him with all the caresses and honour he could have rendred to the King his Father and his power from the Queen of Dasia was no sooner understood but all things were prepared for this famous Wedding which a few days after with all imaginal pomp and satisfaction to the two Lovers in the injoyment of a happiness which had been crost by so many traverses of Fortune was accomplished Merodates intirely cured assisted at this famous Marriage not testifying the least regret and having promised to Alcamenes an eternal friendship returned into his Kingdom whence as I learned since he carried a War into Thrace and there lost his life having acquired a beautiful reputation by many Victories It is some five or six years since the conclusion of the Amours of Alcamenes and Menalippa and it is certain that their love hath ever since continued in its primitive ardour and that Alcamenes contemplating daily the admirable vertues of the Queen his Spouse hath alwayes considered her as a divine person The King Orontes dyed two years after these Nuptials and it was about the time of Alcamenes's Coronation that I arrived in Scythia where I had the honour to be known by this great Prince and where I took care to inform my self particularly of his memorable adventures Thus finished Megacles his long relation possessing both the Princesses with admiration which they expressed by divers Questions notwithstanding the pressures of their own misfortunes After this converse Megacles caused Supper to be served in and a little after gave them the good night both the Princesses lying together fought to unbend their cruel inquietudes by some moments of repose The End of the Eighth Part of Cleopatra HYMEN'S PRAELUDIA OR Loves Master-piece Part. IX LIB I. ARGUMENT The two Princesses Cleopatra and Artemisa compare their Misfortunes and compassionate and comfort one another Artemisa out of her Love to Alexander and the Desire she had to be acquainted with her future Relations entreats Cleopatra to give her an account of her Brothers and Sisters Cleopatra relates the History of Julius Antonius Antonia and young Ptolomy Julius Antonius riding a hunting one day is thrown by his Horse and relieved by an unknown Lady whom he falls passionately in love with Lucius Scipio is in love with Emilia the Daughter of Statilius Scaurus Being a friend of Antonius 's he carries him to see his Mistresse where by a fatall chance he meets with the unknown Lady who proves to be Tullia the Daughter of Cicero She abhors Antonius as being the Son of Anthony and Fulvia who had put Cicero to an ignominious and cruel death Tullia is courted by Cecinna with the approbation of her brother Quintus Cicero who bringing her one day to the Amphitheatre to see the combats of certain beasts Antonius hath another sight of her but is much troubled at her kindness to Cecinna She shews him a box wherein was her own picture which he going to return her it slips out of his hands into the Area where the beasts fought Antonius perceiving how much Tullia was troubled at it out of an extravagance of passion leaps down into the Area among the beasts and takes it up but bringing it to her out of a confidence she would take that expression of his love with civility if not with kindnesse she out of the horrid aversion she had for him would not receive it whereupon he keeps it protesting he would never restore it to any hands but her own Cecinna meeting him afterwards alone demands the box of him which Antonius refusing to deliver him it begat a duel wherein Cecinna is killed Upon which accident as also at the request of Tullia that he would not appear in her sight again Antonius leaves Rome and is never after heard of THE slumber of the two fair Princesses could not be long not only because the night was far spent before they fell afleep but also because the importunate resentment of their misfortunes would not permit a rest of any great continuance They had hardly opened their bright eyes to receive in the light but they opened them withal to let out tears and it could hardly be discerned whether came out of their mouths first or certain broken sighes or some mournful expressions The dawning must needs be full of affliction that was to be delivered of a day so fatal to these two desolate Princesses for neither could the great courage of Cleopatra nor the resignation of Artemisa
to Rome from forreign and remote Nations that were most rare and exquisite was there and that heightned admirably by art but what most troubled Antonia was that what modes or forms soever the services were of or what figure so ever they were disposed into wherein there had been more than ordinary care taken the Characters of Antonia were scattered up and down amongst the burning Hearts after the same manner as they had been all about the Vessel This stirred up their curiosity afresh to find out who this servant of Antonia might be insomuch that Marcellus having acquainted Agrippa with what he had received from us they sought and guessed a long time but after all could not fix on any person whom they could with any probability affirm to be the man But I shall trouble you with no more as to that we made an end of our Collation we went away with the rest of the Company and retired with matter enough for discourse as to that adventure but what was most pleasant of all was that abating the trouble which Antonia conceived the reat we undressed our selves she found another Letter in one of her sleeves though she thought she had made sufficient provision against any such thing I was hasty enough to read it and found the words of it to be these To the Princesse ANTONIA YOu see then fairest Princesse how much I am obliged to artifice and how I effect that by stratagem which I should never compasse by open hostility You have granted the Unknown Lover what you had denyed Kings that were professed Lovers and though he be obliged for this good Fortune to the name of Livia for which you have had so much respect yet is he much more engaged for it to his own industry and the confidence he had to effect his design You will pardon me that I have entertained you in so poor a place since I acknowledge I cannot conceave any noble enough to receave you and cannot wish you any other then that Heart which you saw burning this day in the publick Sacrifice I have made thereof to you In a word my Fortune whatever it may be hath been envyed this day by all that is great and eminent in the Empire whence I derive a certain hope that it will one day be envyed by all that shall think themselves the most fortunate in the World I cannot said I having made an end of reading the letter but acknowledge that this man what ever he may be is an extraordinary Gallant a great wit and inexpressibly magnificent I grant you all that replyed Antonia but you must acknowledge withall that there is a certain spice of extravagance in his design and that all the pains he takes will amount to nothing That I cannot tell you replyed I nay methinks I already perceave he hath effected some part of his intentions for in that he hath declared to you at the beginning that there is no other reason of his recourse to this artifice then to induce you to endure the name of Love and to reconcile you to that passion which you avoid as a Monster because you are not acquainted with it you must needs acknowledge that he hath already prevailed with you to endure not onely the discourse but all the expressions of it much beyond what you had suffered in all your life before and in a word that you have held a greater correspondence with love since you first entertained the addresses of this one Unknown Servant than you did upon those of all the rest put together Ah Sister replies Antonia very roundly what inclinations do I derive from what you say to hate him the more and yet how true is that which you have observed and I must with shame acknowledge it to be such But if it be possible I will remedy it one way or other What remedy can you think of said I to her while you are kept in this ignorance This man is haply of such a nature that he will not discover himself while he lives and though we may very well from the transcendency of his thoughts and attempts infer the greatnesse of his birth yet may it not possibly be such as may furnish him with confidence enough to declare himself Since we are fallen into this discourse Sister saies Antonia I am to acquaint you that not many dayes since I found in one of my Gloves another Letter which I purposely forbore to shew you by reason of some discontent that you were in that day concerning Tiberius but kept it nevertheless that it might be communicated to you for you know that I mind them only in order to your diversion No said I to her smiling t is because you would have me no farther acquainted with your secrets at which words perceaving she had found the Letter I took it from her and read out of it these words To the Princesse ANTONIA THough my name ought to be concealed from my Princesse till such time as she hath pardoned me the injury I have done her to prevent all suspicions that may be conceived against an unknown person yet is it lawful for me to let her know and I ought to do it in order to my justification though it may be with some prejudice to my modesty and reservednesse that my person is not disliked by those whom I have addressed my self to that I am not without some esteem or without some name in the World and that my birth and fortune are such as whence I may well derive an encouragement to serve her In fine my love is that which she might most disapprove in me after the protestation she hath made her self that the person was not hateful and from this defect it is that I hope for greater advantages then I can expect from either birth or fortunes This letter furnished us with more matter of discourse and imagination then all the rest but at last having done all we could we resolved not to trouble our selves any further and to expect with patience what might be the consequences of that adventure Ptolomey to whom I had given one of the letters had made it his businesse to enquire all about whether there were any such hand among those persons of quality and never could meet with any that came neer it Marcellus had done the like but to as little purpose All that passed before had made no great noise but the Galley occasioned abundance of discourse insomuch that for many dayes after the talk of all Companies was of the magnificent Galley of Antonia The King of Cappadocia taking occasion to make a modest complaint to her upon her refusal of the boat which he had provided for her told her she had very much reason to slight that when she expected another that was so magnificent But Antonia satisfied him as much as lay in her power telling him that it was not for its sumptuousnesle that she had preferred that Galley before his boat nor yet out
being the most eager and impatient was the first that spoke and expressed the resentment he had of that adventure in words full of fire and visible demonstrations of his fury Archelaus endured that unfortunate encounter with more moderation and told Mithridates that there was no more happened to them then what they had deserved and that ordinarily there was no other satisfaction to be given to curiosities that were so neer a kin to indiscretion At last they with much ado got up on horseback and returned to their lodgings where having gotten into their beds they were forced to keep them for some dayes Mithridates for his part extremely troubled at the adventure was desirous to conceal it but Archelaus being a person more inclined to sincerity and freedom and whose proceedings in the affection he bore to Antonia were more clear made no difficulty to acquaint all those that came to visit him with the truth of the business so that the very next day it was generally known and was become the subject of all mens talk We soon understood it from Tiberius and Ptolomy and the perpetual discourses which all entertained Antonia with about it added very much to the disquiet she was in before But what troubled Mithridates more than all the rest was a Letter that was brought to Archelaus and which Archelaus sent him as soon as he had perused it himself as having been directed to both whereof the words were these To KING ARCHELAUS and PRINCE MITHRIDATES I Am much troubled at the small misfortune that hath be fallen you though out of a desire of your own satisfaction you were your selves the occasions of it and since I am no enemy of yours though I have done some hurt I should have wished your curiosity a slighter punishment had you left it to my choice You may hence learn to beware how you hereafter pursue with so much violence those that would avoid you and remember that you are to make a bridge of gold for a retreating enemy If you are chargeable with no crime but curiosity disburthen your selves of it as being a vice whereof you will find the inconveniences to be far greater than the advantages but if you are withal guilty of Jealousie learn that Jealousie is a self-disturbing passion whereof the effects are ever dangerous and elude the expectation Besides it is not much for your reputation to be jealous of a person that 's unknown to you and did you know me you would haply find that I am too much below you to do you any prejudice In a word whatever I may be assure your selves I wish you no other hurt than that you may see me more fortunate than your selves in the service of ANTONIA and this declaration of mine considered I shall entreat you not to take it amiss if you see me among those that come to visit you This Letter had been delivered to one of Archelaus's Officers by a man that as soon as he had done was vanished and could not be seen after as having gone his wayes without being observed by any one so that the two Princes were still in the same ignorance they were in before They were both very much netled at it though in a different measure according to their several dispositions and if Archelaus was more moderate than Mithridates yet was he not less moved at the satyrical stile of his Rival The last words of the Letter were those that troubled them most and they thought that fantanstick circumstance of their adventure the most indigestible of any that among their Friends that came daily to give them their visits they were to expect him that had put them into the condition they were in and who haply might prove him they thought the most endeared and could the least suspect This reflection made them look on all that came to see them with a certain distrust and taking it for granted that their Rival was of that number they sought him among them without any distinction and that possibly sometimes where they were the most unlikely to find him They fell into discourse with all those that came to them upon that accident and observed their countenances while they talked to see what inferences they might draw thence but all proved ineffectual For Archelaus and Mithridates being persons that for their rank their vertue and the respects which the Emperour had for them were very considerable among the Romans there were few among the Families that were most Illustrious that came not to visit them so that a midst so great a number they made fruitlesse inquisitions for that which in a lesser they might possibly have discovered Archelaus hath told me since that he was never at such a losse in all his life and that fearing he might see the face of his Rival in all those that came neer him his thoughts were in such a a distraction that for some minutes he could not make any return to their civilities and for Mithridates he looked on all as enemies though his resentment was directed to one single indeterminate person A few dayes recovered them of the hurt they had by the fall and with the pain they forgot part of the affliction they had conceaved thereat their thoughts being now taken up as were those of all the most considerable persons about Rome with preparations for the solemnity which was celebrated every year on the day of Augustus's birth on which the people were divertised by all sorts of exercises and shews and at which time the more to honour the Emperour the Romans out-vyed one another in point of gallantry and magnificence towards the Ladies In the mean time Ptolomey whose inclinations for Martia were not so violent as to deprive him of the divertisements he was addicted to among other designes of pleasure wherein he was every day engaged went one day with many other persons to walk in the same Garden of Lucullus's whereof I have given you so large an account already Having slipped away from his Company to enjoy more privately that of young Lentulus whose humour of all his friends he found the most consonant to his own and desirous to discourse with him about divers things which they mutually communicated one to another they sought out the most solitary walks as being resolved not to joyn their company for some time As they passed through one of the most remote from all company they perceaved at a good distance from them two Women who seemed to them to be of a very goodly presence and though they were alone yet the sumptuousnesse of their habit which they could perceive glittering easily argued them to be persons of quality who seeking solitude as they did had left their attendants in some other part of the garden These women were coming towards them but as soon as they had eyed them at such a distance as it was impossible for them to know one another they turned aside into another walk and continued their solitude These two
satisfie in some sort his own inclinations which were ever directed to vertue omitted nothing of what he thought might be expected from him in order to either of these Obligations And whereas on the one side it was some dissatisfaction to him to be employed to secure them out of the fear he was in to incense a Prince who was not wont to pardon any thing so on the other he with no less joy laid hold on those occasions which presented themselves to discover unto them the repugnance which he struggled with to displease them Being therefore obliged not to part from the ship he had sent Aristus betimes in the morning to see what news he could learn of the King of Armenia and this man being returned had brought him word that the King would infallibly come aboard the Vessel that very day and that though he were in such a posture as to point of health that he could not well undertake such a Voyage without some danger yet had he absolutely resolved to venture it out of the great desire he had to see Cleopatra and the fear he was in of losing so noble a prize Megacles having received this intelligence for certain began to dispose all things in the Vessel in order to his entertainment and having understood that the Princesses were desirous to be alone he out of the great respect he had for them would not so much as come neer their Chamber and was content only to give notice to one of the women that belonged to Cleopatra that he desired that notice might be sent him when the Princesses were pleased that he should waite upon them and when they would have anything brought to dinner That done calling to mind the Unknown Person whom the day before he had rescued from the devouring waves and of whom he had conceived a marvailous good opinion he would needs give him a visit and being come into the Chamber where he had left him abed he found that he made a shift to get on his cloaths but that afterwards being much troubled with the great quantity of salt-water he had drunk he had been forced to cast himself again on the bed they had assigned him Megacles as soon as he came in caused a little window to be set open to give a little more light to the Chamber and having by that advantage of light made fresh observations of the good countenance and handsomeness of the Unknown he was now much more surprized at him than the day before and could not look on him but with a certain admiration The other who with much ado knew him again and reflected on the assistance he had received from him as also on the conversation they had had together and the more than ordinary pains and earnestness he had expressed in the saving of his life entertained him with abundance of kindness and gave him some occasion to see through the clouds of his melancholy that though he had little love for the good office he had done him yet had he abundance of acknowledgment for his good intentions Adde to that that all his behaviour all his gesture nay indeed all things seemed to be so great as if there had been in him a conjunction of sweetness and modesty with a noble and majestick aire that notwithstanding all his ill fortune Megacles felt in himself abundance of inclinations to respect him as he would do the person of Artaxas himself After he had sate down by him that he had felt his pulse and had desired of him some account of his health the unknown person assuming the discourse with a sigh which by its depth seemed to have come from the bottom of his heart My health said he to him is but in too good a posture compared to that of my Fortune but whatever it may be you see that I do not any way oppose the return of it and that I have kept the promise I had made you not to attempt anything against my life while I shall be in your power And for that very reason replies Megacles you shall continue in it as long as I can possibly keep you and I should find it no small difficulty to suffer you to leave us if I had the least imagination that you for sook us to go and seek out death When I consider what posture my life is reduced to replyed the Unknown I think death to be the only happiness I either can or ought to hope and yet since I have had that of seeing you having made some reflections on the things you told me yesterday on the strange manner whereby I was delivered out of the very jaws of death contrary to all probability and other circumstances of my misfortunes I concluded that I ought not to put a Period to my own life before I had done all that lay in my power to serve a person on whom I had bestowed it since that in all likelihood she stands in need of it and that it is not impossible but that by some one of those extraordinary accidents that happen to me but she may yet receive it Out of this consideration and upon the account of this Obligation rather than out of any hope or remainder of love that I have for my life had I taken my cloaths and would have begged your leave to be gone but to deal truely with you the body was not able to follow the motions of the spirit and perceiving that all the strength I could muster was hardly able to bear me up and consequently far from putting that in execution which I had intended I was forced to lye down again till such time as I shall have recovered it a little better as I possibly may ere this day be quite passed The Gods have the praise of this good resolution replyed Megacles and I shall think my self obliged to give them thanks while I live for the opportunity they have furnisht me with to prevent the effects of your despaire since that by this very demurre we have made to it we may haply have absolutely diverted and dismissed it Alas alas replyed the afflicted person with a sigh how little acquaintance have you with my Fortune And how far would you be from that opinion had you but once an account of my misfortune I shall know them when you shall think good replyed Megacles but I shall not desire it of you till such time as your own inclination shall inspire you to give it me for the little time I have known you considered I have conceived such a respect for you as permits me not to deal with you as I haply should with ordinary persons That compassionate sentiment which you have for the miserable replyed the Unknown you rather derive from your own vertue than any thing you might have observed in my person which is only the mark of Heavens Indignation and a ball continually tossed and bandyed by the inconstancies of Fortune And therefore assure your self that the opinion I
other The King of Armenia exasperated at this railed at the gods and fortune for this misfortune but after he had tormented himself for some time to no purpose he was forced to give way and to suffer the remainder of the day and the night following to passe away in expectation of a change In the mean time he was retired into a little chamber which they made a shift to dresse him up in the vessel where he thought fit to take his rest for some time and have his wounds dressed The two Princesses had soon notice of this favourable change of the wind by Camilla who had heard it from Megacles and this wench who was indeed very much esteemed by her Mistresse as well for ner vertue as her many excellent qualities after she had told them the news with a countenance full of joy and cheerfulnesse Madam said she to her let us not despaire of Heavens assistance and since it begins to declare it self for us let us believe that its assistance will prove absolute and effectual and that it will never for sake such great and vertuous Princesses in such a misfortune as you are in I am very much inclined to hope it my dear wench replies the Princesse and we ought to joyne our prayers together to beseech the gods to direct those to the place where we are who in all probability run up and down to our rescue There is no doubt to be made added the fair Artemisa but that Alexander will search the World over in our pursuit but he goes far enough to find us whiâ—e we are so neer the place where he lost us t is so much the more our unhappinesses and it will never be believed that those who carryed us away should make a stay at the gates of Alexandria I am of your mind replies Cleopatra but these reflections avail us nothing and all that lies up-us to do is to expect with patience what it shall please the soveraign disposers of our destinies to do with us While they were discoursing thus in their Chamber Artaxas kept silence in his unlesse it were when that from his bed he gave orders for his voyage Megacles gave him an account of that admirable unknown person whom he had relieved and had disposed into his bed and spoke of him in such manner as raised in the King a desire to see him upon the extraordinary relation which the other had made concerning him But in regard that Megacles told him that he was too weak and too much cast down to be brought before him in a time that he shuned the light and hated life it self he resolved to give him a visit in the place where he was after he had taken an houres rest on his bed Thus was he employed when he sees coming in to him Aristus and with him seven or eight men sufficiently well armed with fierce and savage countenances and in the head of them he who seemed to be their chief and had as little kindness in his looks as any of them though he were very pale and seemed to have laien in lately of some great sicknesse The King at first sight could not call the man to mind not onely by reason of the alteration wrought in him by his sicknesse as the change which ten ar twelve years had made in his countenance it being so long since he had seen him But Aristus assuming the discourse and presenting him to the King This my Lord said he to him is the famous Zenodorus whom you have sometimes seen in your own Court and in your Armies before the accidents that have happened to him had obliged him to coast up and down the seas where he hath made himself so dreadful I have met him again by a very strange chance and in regard that I knew your Majesty hath had a great esteem for him and conceiving that his services and those of the men that accompany him persons much better acquainted with these seas than any of your subjects might prove advantageous to you in the condition you are now in I though fit to bring him along with me out of a confidence that your Majesty would take it well at my hands With these words Zenodorus continuing the discourse made himself fully known to the King and Artaxas who had not onely seen him many years before both in his own Court and also in the King his Fathers but had also a particular esteem for him and at his coming to the Crown had assisted him in his marriage with one of the handsomest Ladies in all Armenia called him to mind very well and having entertained him with much kindnesse he assured him of his joy to see him again and of his assistances as far as he were able upon what account soever he might desire them Zenodorus returned him thanks with much respect and proffered to serve him in his own person and promised the services of those men that accompanied him with all fidelity Artaxus discovering his weakness by the paleness of his countenance and having known him to be a person of a considerable rank caused him to sit down and after some words expressing the respects he had for him Zenodorus said he to him if you are astonished to see me upon this coast and in the posture wherein you find me I am no lesse my self to meet you in that condition wherein you appear to me About the time of your departure from Armenia while yet I was but young I heard thousands of stories of you and have understood since that for these eight or ten years you have scowred the seas with several considerable ships of war have taken many prizes fought divers memorable fights and grew dreadful beyond all the Pirates that sound so much trouble to the Great Pompey T is very true my Lord replyed the Pirate that I have done part of what you say and that I have been feared as well on the main sea as in that where we now are I was not many dayes since the richest of all the Pirates and had gotten together riches enough to forget all resentment for what had been taken away from me to bestow on Herod but Fortune hath eased me of a great part of them The late tempest which lay so heavy on this sea dispersed some part of my ships the rest have been taken by the Praetor of Egypt and I have received my self upon this coast a thrust through the body which left little hopes of life behind it and yet I have with much ado recovered it and by a miraculous assistance am brought into the condition wherein you now see me What you tell me replyed the King of Armenia I am not only astonished but much troubled at and if ever we come into Armenia again I will furnish you with those supplies which you shall conceive necessary to restore your fortune to the posture it was in before But in regard I have heard a many strange and wonderful things of you
that even in the midst of my misfortunes notwithstanding all the changes I have run through nothing hath been able to force out of my memory the resentment of your goodnesses or the desire I have by all the services it lies in my power to do you to acknowledg them The End of the Third Book HYMEN'S PRAELUDIA OR Loves Master-piece Part. IX Lib. IV. ARGUMENT The King of Armenia acquaints Zenodorus how he had brought away the Princesses Cleopatra and Artemisa tells him what designes he had upon them and is encouraged in his enterprize by the Pirate Artaxus is set upon by an Egyptian Vessel for the deliverante of Cleopatra and is like to gain the Victory when an unknown person that was in Artaxa's ship awakened by the noise comes in to the relief of the Armenian and forces the Egyptian to retreat Having secured the Victory he is known by Cleopatra to be Coriolanus whereat she is almost distracted Upon her reproaches to him for the disservice he had done her he swounds but soon after recovers pleads his ignorance and the innocency of his intentions To expiate his crime he undertakes to deliver her out of the hands of Artaxus who thereupon sets his men to kill him but upon the mediation of Cleopatra he is proffered life and liberty He refusing both is again set upon kills Aristus Zonodorus and divers others and keep all in play so long till a ship of Alexandria coming in quest of Cleopatra comes to his relief The ships being ready to close Artaxus threatens to kill the two Princesses whereupon the Egyptian Vessel wherein were the Princes Alexander and Marcellus dares not fasten to the other Artaxus would have put his barbarous design upon the Princesses in execution but is miraculously prevented by Coriolanus who thrusting him to the other side of the ship sets himself before the Princesses Marcellus taking his advantage upon that interval boards the Arminian Alexander would have killed Artaxus but upon the mediation of Artemisa forbears yet he scorning life from an enemy falls upon his own sword Coriolanus is charged with and at last informed what his ancient infidelity to Marcellus and Cleopatra was promises to clear himself and is promised to be restored to Cleopatra 's affection Marcellus Alexander and the two Princesses return to Alexandria whither the body of Artaxus is brought by Megacles who in his way set Coriolanus ashore to find out some means to approve himself a faithful lover and servant of Cleopatra THis was the conclusion of Zenodorus's discourse and when he had given over speaking the King of Armenia acknowledged his obligations to him for the proffers he had made him of his Services and by way of requital promised him that as soon as they were arrived in Armenia he would furnish him with all the assistance he could desire either to restore him to his Estate again that he might spend the rest of his life in quiet or put him to Sea in as good a condition as he had been in some daies before Zenodorus told him on the other side that it was neither prudence nor safe for him to make any stay in Armenia because of the Friends of Elisena who could not look on him without a certain horrour and therefore he relied more upon the hopes he had put him into of his furtherances in that course of life which he was resolved to follow Artaxus who by this unexpected supply was twice as strong as he had been before in men not onely well versed in Sea-affaires but much acquainted with those coasts was not a little glad of the adventure and out of a design of engaging Zenodorus the more to serve him he thought it not amisse to discover to him all that had passed how things then stood and related to him the manner how he had brought away the Princesse Cleopatra and Artemisa how that his intentions were to carry them to Armenia as soon as the wind should serve The Pirate was infinitely pleased to see a King fallen into that course of life which he had followed for so many years and being almost out of himself for joy that he had such a companion he encouraged him in his enterprise and promised him success in it or that he would perish in his Service These two soules neer of the same making were extreamly glad at this renewing of their acquaintance but Megacles a person of a quite different disposition and one that could not without a certain regreet endure the violences of his Master looked on the Pirate with horrour and had shed many teares at the unfortunate adventure of the deplorable Elisena Having therefore taken his rest which he should otherwise have done out of a consideration of his indisposition during the whole time that this relation had lasted Artaxus thinking it long since he had seen the Princesse Cleopatra rose up from his bed and was going to her chamber But before he was gotten into it calling to mind that vertuous unknown person in whose commendation Megacles had spoken such great things and though he were of a cruell nature yet upon the account of his courage which indeed was very great in him having a certain esteem ser noble and generous persons he would needs give him a visit and so went to the place where he was in his bed The unknown person lifted himself half up at his coming in for having heard the word King often spoken of in the vessel out of an imagination that he might be the King himself who did him that civility he received him with abundance of respect and with as great demonstrations of cheerfulnesse as might be expected from so deep a melancholy as he then groaned under The place was something dark and the day almost spent but it was not long e're torches were brought in by the light whereof the King soon discovered the gracefulnesse of the unknown person which raised in him not onely astonishment but much respect for him The first discourse he made to him was to expresse how much he was satisfied with the assistances he had received from Megacles repeating some part of those proffers which Megacles had made him before and the unknown person oâ— the other side though he entertained them not as one that had any intention to make advantage of them yet acknowledged how great an obligation he had laid upon him and did it in such termes and with such a grace as raised no small admiration in the Armenian Having understood by the account Megacles had given of him that he was a person much inclined to Vertue he though it not fit to let him know any thing of his carrying away of Cleopatra as conceiving he might not approve of it whence it may be inferred that Vertue hath this advantage that even in the persons of the miserable she raises a fear of her self in the most happy and most powerfull He told him that he had to his no smal satisfaction understood that
heaven with eyes sparkling with indignation and an action expressing the very depth of despair Though gods and men cryed he and all the elements combine to ruine me yet shall they not abate a jot of my courage and if I must perish implacable destinies you shall find I can do it without either basenesse orremorse With these words he returns to Coriolanus as conceiving it absolutely necessary that he should be dispatched out of the way before the enemy were come up and thinking it now past time to dally and that he was to make all the haste hë could with him he comes up to him in such manner that the Prince after he had warded off certain blows which the other had made at him struck him over the head with all the strength he had The goodnesse of the head-piece saved him from death but it was not able to hinder him from being stunned in such wise that after he had staggered a while he fell down within some few paces of the Princesse Cleopatra Megacles ran immediately to help him and Artemisa out of the excellency of her good nature remembring what she ought her own bloud came to him and took up the visour of his head-piece to give him a greater freedom of breathing and more aire While he continued in that condition Cleopatra running to those that were still fighting against Coriolanus and who possibly notwithstanding his miraculous resistance would have dispatched him at last comes up to them without any fear and lifting up her voice that she might be the better heard Hold your hands said she to them and if you expect any favour from those whom you see coming to our assistance make no further attempt on the life of a Prince on whom your own will within these few minutes depend T is the onely way you have left you to secure your lives for you are not to hope for any mercy if you betake you not to your own Prince and by complyance make your selves worthy the pardon which I promise you These words proved effectual upon some part of those that heard them and particularly upon the Armenians who were most of them persons of considerable quality These were content to do as the Princesse would have them and giving over fighting went to see how their King did but the Pirates in whom the death of their leader and the despaire of pardon wrought a different effect were obstinate in the designe they had conceived to take away Coriolanus's life and though there were but one half of them left yet despaired not of revenging the death of Zenodorus The Prince perceiving himself eased not onely of the greatest part of his enemies but also of the most dangerous and most valiant valued not much those that remained and though he must needs be very much weakened as well by the continual action he had been in as by some slight wounds he had received yet was he now in greater hopes than ever of gaining the victory and delivering Cleopatra In the mean time Artaxus who had onely been stunned with the heavy blow he had received comes at length to himself by the assistance they had given him but ere he had so far recovered himself as to know all that were about him and become master of his strength that is before he was in a condition to discern what passed in the ship and to give out orders about any thing the other that was coming in to the assistance of Cleopatra and which had already been known to be one of those of Alexandria was gotten so neer that they could hear them hollow that were within her and in a manâ—er discern their faces Artaxus having got up and taken his sword again looked about him of all sides and perceiving that all his hopes were vanished he was convinced his final ruine was at no great distance He sighed again for very grief and rage as coâ—ceiving himself not to be in a condition either to execute his revenge or keep Cleopatra in his possession and therefore was at such losse and irresolution that he knew not what side to take Whiâ—e in the interim the other ship came on still with such speed and such hollowing that it was out of all question she was an enemy and indeed within a few minutes after Cleopatra and Artemisa perceived in the head of those that were coming to their assutance Prince Marcellus and Prince Alexander who that they might be known to the Princesses had raised up the visours of their head-pieces If their joy was extraordinary the grief of Ataxus who upon the first sight knew Alexander was no lesse violent He blâ—sphemed against Heaven and railed at his evil fortune and that hateful sight filled him no doubt upon the first apprehension thereof with satal resolutions We must perish cryed he but it is but just we bury under our ruines those that should derive any felicity from our destruction And for thy part Alexander said he loud enough to be heard by him assure thy self thou shall not laugh at the dâ—feat of Artaxus With these words he comâ—s up to the two Princesses and looking on them with eyes red with blood and fire he put them into a greater fright then ever they had known before See bere said he these are either my security or my victimes what shall escape my love shall never escape my revenge and if it be lost to me it shall be lost to all the World besides As he uttered these words he took Artemisa in the left hand and with the right presenting the point of his inhuman weapon to the fair breast of Cleopatra he directs his fatal looks on Alexander and Marcellus just at the instant that they were preparing all things to fasten the grappling-irons and addressing his speech to the Son of Anthony Alexander said he to him hope not thou shalt have any thing to rejoice at in the misfortune of thy enemy and think not to triumph over me so many several wayes as thou hast through the malice of my fortune and the persidiousness of Artemisa It was through the basenesse of this Princesse that she ever came into thy power and the revenging gods have been pleased that Cleopatra should fall into mine but if my Sister hath been too susceptible of thy love thine hath been too ungratful to entertain the affection I have had for her Thou returnest again conducted by that Fortune which hath ever been in hostility against me with a design and haply in a condition to force them both out of my hands but know that thy hope hath deluded thee and all thou art to expect from this enterprize is the death of these two Princesses Thou maist save their lives by directing thy course some other way and leaving me at liberty to pursue mine but if thou losest a single minute in considering what resolution thou should take thou shalt find me already resolved to sheath this sword in the breasts of Cleopatra and Artemisa
after another manner and to make that adventure contribute somewhat to the diversion and entertainment of those that were present Cleopatra was hardly gotten into Elisas chamber ere word was brought her that Prince Alexander her brother was come into her own and that having left the King of Armenia he thought not fit to depart the lodgings till he had wished her a good-night Cleopatra was going to send the Messenger back again with word that he should stay a while for her when Queen Candace knew it was Caesario's design to discover himself as well to Alexander as Cleopatra entreated her to send for him assuring her that there was none had the least mistrust of him and that Cleomedon was too much engaged by the assistance he had received from him to deny him the opportunity to see him Cleopatra having done what the Queen desired of her saluted Caesario and Artaban with that ceremony which she conceived she ought to have observed towards two such eminent men and of whom she had her imagination full by the account had been given her of their gallant actions She looked on them one after another with a certain astonishment as not knowing any one in the World whom she could think comparable to them but onely her own Coriolanus They were going to fall into some discourse when there comes into the room Alexander upon the first sight somewhat at a losse to find that company there Artaban and he had spent the evening together with Ariobarzanes and it was not long since they had parted after they had conceived confidering the small abode they had made together abundance of esteem and respects one for another But the sight of Cleomedon was it that he was most astonished at and having not seen him since he had left Tidaeus's house in pursuit of Cleopatra he wond red much to find him in the same room with her Yet was not his astonishment so great but that he expressed the satisfaction he conceived it to meet with him and after he had in the first place addressed his civilities to Elisa and Candace with much submission he came to him to let him know how glad he was to find him in a condition so different from that wherein he had left him craved his pardon that by reason of the urgent necessity that had called him away to the relief of Artemisa and Cleopatra he had been forced to leave him and to recommend to other persons the recovery of a health which he infinitely esteemed Caesario thought this discourse so obliging that he could not but make an answer suitable thereto whereupon looking on Alexander and Cleopatra with an affection which blood obligation and merit had easily raised in him No it is I said he to the Prince that ought with much more reason make my excuses to you and had you afforded me the time to put my self into such a posture as that I might have followed you the indisposition I might have been in by reason of my wounds should not have excused me for not bearing of you company to relieve the Princesse Cleopatra That was an affair which I was more particularly obliged to look after then you could have imagined and besides the engagement I stand in to the assistance I received from you when my life was in greatest danger the remembrance of a person whom you have sometimes esteemed and of whom I have undertaken to bring some tidings to the Princesse Cleopatra and your self makes me concern my self in your interests with a very violent affection It is very true replies the Princesse Cleopatra that the Queen hath put me into very much hope that I should receive by you some account of a person I have sometime dearly loved and it is out of that confidence that she hath been pleased I should come tâ— her Chamber at such a time that it may be some inconvenience to her I must needs confesse that this promise of the Queens hath raised in me a curiosity which is more then ordinary to me as well out of the imagination I have that from a great person such as you are I shall understand onely great things as out of a self â—lattery I have been guilty of that it might be a Beloved brother a person of excellent endowments whom an amorous despair forced from Rome about seven or eight years since that you have something to say to me We are to learn whether he be dead or living and it is not impossible but that in his travels he might have met with you and been of your acquaintance I am very much troubled Madam replied the Prince that it is not in my power to give you the satisfaction you expected from me for as to that brother you enquire of I have not certainly any account to give you of him nay which is more I never knew him But I may haply have somewhat to acquaint you with concerning some other persons of your house who were no lesse dear to you and whom I have heretofore familiarly seen and conversed with in this City before the ruine of Anthony and Queen Cleopatra And that you may be the sooner convinced observe well my face and see whether notwithstanding the change which ten years may have wrought in it you can find some features like to those of that person who was brought up with you and whom you dearly loved I have been heretofore flattered by some with that resemblance and know not whether you have preserved the Idaea of it so well as to find there is yet something left of it These words raised no small astonishment in the children of Anthony and Alexander coming up close to Caesario who was purposely got near the torches Cleopatra and he looked on him a long time with much earnestness It was about the tenth year of their age that Caesario departed from Alexandria and about the fourteenth of his own so that by reason as well of the infancy of Alexander and Cleopatra as the alteration which more remarkably then in any other degree of mans age happens in the countenances of men between that of fourteen and that of four and twenty which was then the age of Caesario it might well happen that the Princesse and the Prince her Brother could not upon the first sight discover the face of their Brother in that of Cleomedon whose speech proportionably to the rest was altered by growing bigger since their separation Yet was not all this alteration so great nor their memories so weak but that after what Cleomedon had said and the particular observation which he had obliged them to make they would have known the Prince had they not been carried away with the general opinion that he had departed this world Nay after they had well considered his face they in a manner knew him but that discovery had no further effect on them then to force out certain sighes whereupon the Princesse Cleopatra assuming the discourse after she had looked on
what regret and affliction to Tigranes to see even in his presence so much honour done to him whose competition was such a torment to him and whom meerly for the want of a Crown and Royal extraction he had imagined so much below him Agrippa himself notwithstanding the greatnesse of his spirit and vertue could not without some inclination to envy look on so powerful a Rival but wished Fortune had raised against him one of the greatest Kings in the world rather then such a Corrival Alcamenes and he who indeed might with reason dispute all things look'd on one the other without any emulation and finding themselves mutually worthy one anothers Friendship they both embraced it with equal earnestnesse and inclination Alcamenes who though a great King himself set a lower value on Royalty then Vertue and withal laugh'd at the unjust cotempt which his Competitors expressed towards him having even while he sojourn'd in the Court of Dacia as a private person under the name of Alcimedon entertained him to the confusion of those that envy'd him with as much respect and acknowledgment as if he had been King of a Monarchy equal to his own and after many words whereby those two great Souls assur'd one the other of an indissoluble Friendship Alcamenes taking him by the hand I enter into Friendship and Alliance with you said he to him as King of the Parthians I doubt not but you will one day attain that Crown and if to carry on or maintain you in the just pretensions you may have thereto the assistance of your Friends be requisite I shall be ready to serve you in the Head of a hundred thousand men This he spoke so loud that it was heard by Tigranes but whether out of the respect he had for Augustus or some other considerations he pretended not to have heard it though he conceived such a grief and indignation thereat as he found it no small difficulty to dissemble Artaban answered so noble a proffer with the respect and submission he had for vertuous Princes by whom he was not slighted and by the after-conversation he had with the Scythian King made him sensible that all he had receiv'd from Fame of the greatnesse of his courage was below the truth Nor is it hard to imagine that all those persons of so many different Nations that then were in Alexandria could discourse together notwithstanding the difference of their Languages since that it was a general ambition in all Kingdomes especially those that had any commerce with the Empire to learn the Roman Language and that there were few considerable persons in the world who were not very skilful in it This Assembly how admirable soever it might already be would have seemed much more noble to the Emperour if Marcellus had been there his absence being onely that which in his apprehension hindred it from being compleat Livia had the same reflections for Tiberius whose presence out of a maternal desire she could not but wish and Cleopatra and the Queen of Ethiopia having with justice commended it in her whisper'd one another in the ear that that Assembly would be absolutely consummated in the presence of Coriolanus and Caesario could their several Fortunes have permitted it The Emperour had been inform'd of Marcellus's return and thence imagin'd that since his last departure whereof he was not able to guesse at the occasion he could not be gotten far and the Princesse Cleopatra having that evening had the opportunity of some discourse with Julia assur'd her that Marcellus was not far from Alexandria and that he had shaken off that jealousie out of which he had left her upon the confession of Volusius whose arrival she gave her an account of as also of the Artifices of Tiberius and the innocence of Coriolanus Yet thought she not fit to tell her that that Prince was somewhere about Alexandria though she was confident that upon her knowledge of it she would not do him the least ill office and they together concluded it unseasonable as yet to make any discovery of the base Artifices of Tiberius by reason of Livia's being concern'd therein and the confusion she might be likely to conceive thereat During the entertainments of so gallant an Assembly wherein so many illustrious persons endeavour'd to expresse their Courtship and noble dispositions no lesse then their Magnificence Agrippa having continu'd some time at the back of Elisa's Chair and none presuming to interrupt the discourse he had with her out of the respect which all bore him had the opportunity to entertain her with his passion more favourably then he had had any time before Yet out of all the conversation he had with her could he not derive the least hope though the Princess whose inclinations were naturally full of mildness took no offence at him as she might haply have done at any other for whom she would not have had the same compliance King Alcamenes entertained the Princess Cleopatra and Artaban had a long discourse with Julia who could not but admire all things in him Cornelius finding an opportunity to come near Candace and looking on her with a respect which the knowledge he had of her quality added to what he had for her before upon the account of his affection Madam said he to her I come to demand your pardon for the faults which out of my ignorance I may have committed against you But had you been pleased to discover your self I should have endeavoured to render you what is due to so great a Queen I am easily inclined to believe replyed the Queen very sharply that I was not known to you and if I had to imagine your carriage had been much otherwise towards me then it hath been for some days past But since you have put an obligation upon me which nothing can force out of my remembrance I am willing to forget your past miscarriages out of a confidence you will not be guilty of any the like hereafter Ah Madam reply'd the Praetor It is not for that offence that I beg your pardon nor can I think my self criminal for a thing I neither can nor shall ever repent me of That which I charge my self with as most injurious to you is That I have omitted those formalities which are to be observed towards so great a Queen but you could not certainly take offence at a passion which a Goddess were there any such among us would think innocent If therefore that be the offence I stand guilty of I shall die in the guilt of it Cornelius says the Queen looking very disdainfully on him Caesar is now in Alexandria force me not to represent these injurious proceedings of yours towards me and know that I would not suffer from himself the unjust freedom you take with me With these words she turned away from him and engaged her self in the conversation of Alcamenes and Cleopatra who was sate close by her Cornelius was at such a loss that he found it
no justice to force the inclinations of a Princess of the equality and worth of Elisa after he had given him leave to say all he would Tigranes said he to him You have had some grounds to be assured that I should do you no injustice and you shall find from me whatever you can with reason expect I shall not give way that any should take away or detain from you the Princess of the Parthians and I shall put her into your hands as soon as she shall be willing to go along with you To that end you are at liberty to dispose her thereto as soon as you shall think fit and you will find no further obstacle if you but once get her consent But you ought not to hope and I imagine you do not that to further your design I should do her any violence both in regard the action in it self would be contrary to the equity which I shall punctually observe and that Elisa is a person of that Rank as neither can nor indeed ought to give me that freedom This is a thing you know as well as my self And you may take notice further that if Marcellus were in your condition I should treat him no otherwise then I do you and that were it my own Son had the gods been pleased to have blessed me with any I would not to oblige him offer any violence to such a Princess as that of the Parthians 'T is the least she can hope to be at liberty in a place where she demands my protection you have the same freedome and if you can gain her consent you shall meet with no other opposition To this effect was the discourse of Augustus to him as who knew well enough how contrary the inclinations of Elisa were to the affections of Tigranes so that the afflicted King of Media growing pale at the hearing of those words received them no otherwise then as the Sentence of Death though he had in all likelihood already foreseen some part of his misfortune Nor could he dissemble the affliction he conceived thereat and looking on the Emperour though with a certain respect yet such as through which his resentments were easily discernable What my Lord said he to him do you think it any violence to permit a Husband to take his Wife to him in your Territories and what rank soever Elisa may be of do you think it any force done her by putting her into his hands on whom her Father and all her Friends have bestowed her with all the ceremonies and solemnities ordinary upon such occasions Had she been born in any place within my jurisdiction replies Augustus or any Kingdom dependant on the Empire I might have disposed of her according to your desires but being the Daughter of a Monarch over whom we have no power or authority and being such in her person as nothing is able to exempt even my self from the respect due to her from all men you ought not to think it strange I should leave her to her own disposal and be unwilling to do that for you which certainly I should be loath to do for my self 'T is enough my Lord replied the Median and you cannot better assure me that you have resolved my ruine then by telling me that you leave my fortunes at the disposal and mercy of Elisa The intentions she hath towards me I am very well acquainted with and since she hath left me her lawful Husband to wander up and down the world with Artaban I doubt not but that for the same Artaban 's sake she will shun me to the end of the world But my Lord is it possible that an Emperour so great and so just can so easily sacrifice the enjoyments and glory of a King whose Life and Crown hath ever been at his disposal to the satisfaction of a Souldier of Fortune whom I have my self raised out of the dust to the honour he hath so unworthily abused a Souldier I say whose most considerable actions have been done in the service of your enemies That Souldier replies Augustus is not to be slighted by those who have any regard to Vertue and there are few Kings in the world to be preferred before him if it be referred to the judgement of the greatest men What he hath done against you for the enemies of the Roman Empire cannot prevail with me to abate ought of the esteem I have for him and you are the person that of all men have least reason to think so meanly of him But what ere he may be it matters not you may take this further from me that it is not any way to promote his design that I leave the Princess Elisa at the liberty of her choice and that I shall not interpose between you as to what concerns her affections Prevail with her if it be possible by love and services and use all imaginable industry to gain her violence onely excepted which I absolutely forbid you in my Dominions both against her and against Artaban and which you cannot make use of without rendring me your enemy The Median King ready to burst with grief and exasperation at this discourse was going to reply haply with a violence which might have incensed him when the Emperour perceives coming into the Room Ariobarzanes King of Armenia Prince Philadelph and King Archelaus and as he was turning towards them to salute them comes in King Alcamenes Caesar leaving Tigranes went to entertertain him which he did with the civility he was wont to expresse towards him telling him it was his design to give him a visit in his own Chamber and that it troubled him he was prevented Alcamenes received that civility of the Emperour with a submission accompani'd by all the marks of a real Greatnesse of Soul and after some discourse together the Emperour having word brought him that the Empresse was ready and that all the Princesses were with her went to her Lodgings follow'd by all that noble company She being one of the most ingenious and understanding of the Sexe and able to manage the Government of the Empire as well as the greatest men the Emperour had more then ordinary compliances for her and she received them with such an admirable design and artifice that taking no notice of his Amoretto's both towards Terentia and other Ladies whom he had lov'd she accordingly made it her main businesse to satiate his ambition which was the predominant passion in him and flatter Augustus's humor in such manner as that she might continue her authority over him and be in a condition to raise her Sons to the height of advancement When this noble company entred her chamber all the Princesses were there and the Emperour having very submissively saluted them all said to every one of them some word by the way relating either to her Beauty or Adventures and not long after perceiving that the King of the Scythians was fallen into discourse with the Empresse he comes up close to Elisa
death by a thrust through the body and these three victories cost the terrible young man but so many blows But it was not in his heart nor yet in his countenance that the victory wrought its ordinary effects making it visibly appear that what heightned the insolence and hopes of his companions filled him with grief shame and confâ—sion He had stay'd a little time in expectation of another Adversary when accordingly there is one brought into the Arena upon whose appearance Quintilius Varus who knew him and had sent both him and the other to the Overscers of the Gladiators crying out aloud to the Emperour told him that Combat would be very pleasant for that the Gladiator last come in was little if at all inferiour in point of valour to his companion That discourse of Varus obliged those that were the more attentive to these sights to take more particular notice of the last and they found that as to his person the other had not much the advantage of him though he discovered less fierceness and that there seemed to be a greater mildness both in his eyes and countenance They were in many things much like one the other especially in their faces though it might be thought the latter was seven or eight years elder then his companion The young man no sooner saw him appear but lifting up his eyes to Heaven with an action full of grief and resentment O ye Gods cryed he O malicious Fortune is it possible you can reduce us to such deplorable extremities With which words there broke forth at his eyes a rivolet of tears Nor seemed there to be less grief and tenderness in him that was newly come in who after he had by certain words proceeding from the height of passion charged Heaven with the strangenesse of their misfortune both casting away their Swords and Bucklers upon the sand mutually embraced each other with so much affection and accompanyed their caresses with words so pressing that the most hard-hearted present were moved to compassion thereat It was the general imagination of the spectators that they should be deprived the pleasure they expected from the engagement of those two valiant Gladiators And indeed the King of Scythia Agrippa Artaban Ariobarzanes Philadelph Drusus and divers other who were mov'd to compassion at what they had seen were intreating the Emperor that those two men whom they thought worthy a better fortune might be spared when those who had the oversight of the Shows out of a design to divert the company by another kind of engagement let forth out of those places where they were kept for that purpose a Tygre one of the greatest and most furious that ever came out of Hyrcania Those that concerned themselves in the misfortune of those two men were extreamly troubled at the sight of that dreadfull creature nay Augustus himself mov'd thereat as others was not well pleased to see them exposed to that new danger But he had not time to considâ—r what course was fittest to be taken for their safety and the approaches of that terrible enemy having interrupted the embraces of the two Gladiators they both ran to their Swords and presented themselves to the furious beast with a resolution that discover'd they were not to be danted by any kind of danger but in that action they expressed no less the greatness of their Friendship then that of their Courage either of them being desirous to put himself before his companion so to expose himself to all the danger for the safety of his Friend Let me alone said the elder of the two that came last suffer me over-confident young man to have some part in the actions of this day Thou hast spilt bloud enough already and I would say thou hast gained glory enough had the occasion been but honourable Let me intreat thee by all our Friendship to keep back and hazard not in my sight a life I value much beyond my own The fierce young man would have made some reply and their contestation would haply have lasted longer if the pressing occasion had permitted it but the Tygre was ready to fasten on the former who put her off with his Buckler and with his Sword had made agreat gap in her side The fury of the cruel beast was augmented by the wound but instead of being reveng'd on him that gave it she turned towards his companion who immediatly cast himself before his Friends and was so fortunate as to cut off one of its unmercifull claws That done the Victory prov'd so much the less difficult to the two valiant men and after they had avoided the last attempts of the cruel Animal by two blows which they gave it both at the same time they laid it along on the sand breathing its last The enterprize being over they ran one to another with equal tenderness to see if they were wounded and having spent some little time in new embraces accompany'd with tears the younger of a sudden lifting up his head which till then he had not so much as turned towards the Assembly and addressing himself to the Emperour Caesar said he to him with a gesture heightned by a noble fierceness thou thinkâ—st it a great glory to expose to thy Gladiators and thy savage Beasts Princes who have not any way deserved such misfortune and those such as are not inferiour to thee either in birth or vertue Consummate consummate thy cruelty and find out some death or other for those who are not desirous to live after the shame thou hast exposed them to It may be our deaths were but requisit in order to thy safety and the quiet of the Romanes to whom this indignity makes us irreconcileable enemies And if Fortune once restore me the fortune she hath deprived me of I promise to the revenging Gods Rivers of Roman bloud to wash off the stain of that unworthy bloud thou hast occasioned me to spill this day These words though proceeding from a strange confidence and threats were so far from incensing the Emperour that they wrought in him much compassion and raised in him a certain remorse and confusion so that the mediations of those Princes who at the same time begged the liberty of those two persons was more then necessary to obtain it He with a gesture of his hand silenc'd the noise that was among the Spectators whereupon addressing his discourse to the valiant young man who had spoken tâ— him If thou art of such birth as thou pretendest said he to him I condemn with much grief the treatment thou hast receiv'd nay if thou wert not thou deservest for thy valour the Liberty which I now give you both The Gods are my witnesses and you also are convinced in your thoughts that both your names and fortunes were unknown to me and that I could not by any discovery discern you from ordinary Gladiators among whom it sometimes happens that there are persons of great courage and handsomeness of body This want of
engagement after some blows dealt on both sides and fought with little inequality at the distance of about a hundred paces from their companions The defender of Cleopatra had not engaged in that combat till such time as he saw there was no danger of her being carried away and meeting with an enemy more worthy his valour then the others he slighted he employed it against him with an ardent desire of victory He had given him many blows and had received from him a considerable number of others which proceeded not from an ordinary strength when with a back-blow he gave him over the head he broke the chin-pieces of his Casque and thereupon casting his eyes upon his face which was disarm'd he found in it the detestable countenance of his Rival and emplacable enemy Tiberius This discovery added to his fierceness and indignation but instead of offering at the Head of Tiberius who held up his Buckler to defend it Tiberius said he to him I am the Son of Juba thy Rival and mortal enemy I now bring thee a life which thou hast so long sought after and there is a possibility thou mayst this day satisfie thy self for the wound I gave thee at Rome and secure Cleopatra if Fortune prove favourable to thee But it is not before so many witnesses that our difference can be determined and to prevent their interposition let us go a little futher to decide it with more freedom I shall not make use of the advantage I have over thee and since thou hast lost thy Casque I will put off mine and fight with the upon equal terms With these words which Tiberius had heard with much patience he unty'd the chin-pieces of his Casque at king it off his head he discovered to him the face of Coriolanus The son of Livia grew pale at the sight but more out of exasperation then fear finding in the Proposition made to him by Coriolanus what he had been so much desirous of and what in the present condition he should most have wish'd after he had cast both on the Chariot where Cleopatra was and his almost defeated companions a look full of rage and madness he goes away without making any answer to his enemy and giving him notice by a sign that he would follow him went to find out a place more convenient wherein to decide their quarrel Their impatience and exasperation suffered them not to go very far so that being come to a place where they thought they should not be interrupted in their design they turn'd one against the other and with a force accompany'd with threats they began to deal hearty blows They were both careful to secure their disarmed heads with their Bucklers nay though they were not over-tender of their lives yet they opposed the Buckler to the Sword by a certain natural address or inclination and by that means their attempts for some time prov'd mutually ineffectual Tiberius was a person of great valour but one withal who had ever imagin'd it lawfull for a man to mind his advantages any way whatsoever and thinking it much more upon this occasion then any other after he had vainly endeavoured to draw bloud of his enemy he in a pass wherein himself receiv'd a wound in the shoulder watch'd his opportunity to run his Horse into the breast and so fortunatly met with the place where it should prove mortal that the Horse after some resistance fell down of a sudden with his Master under him so unhappily that burthened with his weight he found it no easie matter to disengage himself Tiberius naturally cruel and aspiring at a victory that should gain him Cleopaira put his Horse forward to ride over his enemy with a design to dispatch him out of the way but the Horse frightned at that of Cortolanus which lay still strugling upon his Master notwithstanding all the endeavours of Tiberius could not by any means come near him The impatient Son of Livia loath to let slip an occasion so favourable alights to go and make sure of his enemy and with his Sword ready for the execution went towards him O whathappiness was it to the fair Cleopatra that she was not present at that spectacle and what affliction would it have been to her to see her dear Coriolanus overthrown and at the mercy of the cruel Tiberius He was in a manner perswaded that nothing could rescue his Rival from death when he perceives him after much ado got from under his Horse coming towards him with an indignation heightned by his fall such as against which all the strength of Tiberius were likely too weak to make any resistance Nor was it long erc he made him sensible of it the provoked Son of Juba continually charging with such blows as the Buckler being vainly opposed against them drew bloud from Tiberius in several places and put him out of all hopes of a victory which not many minutes be fore he thought indisputably his own However the rage he was in supply'd his strength for a time notwithstanding the bloud he still lost nay he was sofortunate as to see some of Coriolanus's upon his Arms to hope that if he could not overcome he should in some measure reveng his death But that satisfaction lasted not long for soon after he grew so weak and was so by his Adversary that staggering backwards he fell down and had not the strength to rise again Coriolanus advanced towards him with his Sword the point up and coming to him with a menancing out-cry Thou diest Tiberius said he to him thou diest or if thou wouldst live thou must quit all retensions to Cleopatra The Son of Livia in whom rage and madness had smothered all desire of life looking on him with a direfull aspect wherein notwithstanding his weakness his arrogance was sufficiently remarkable Strike Son of Juba said he to him and suffer not to live an Enemy from whom thou hadst received thy death if Fortune had been less unkind to him I shall be thy Rival to the last gasp nor is it the fear of death shall force me quit Cleopatra This discourse of Tiberius raised in Coriolanus a greater esteem for him then all the precedent actions of his life had done and looking on him with a look wherein appeared nothing of an enemy Thy example said he to him shall not oblige me to give thee thy death that it may be seen Tiberius and Coriolanus can make different advantages of their victory according to their several inclinations Thou shalt live invincible and thou shalt live a Servant to Cleopatra but since thou hast courage enough to dispute her even to death remember It is by vertue thou shouldst have gained her and that artifices and illegal authority are unworthy a person that can prefer death before the shame of being overcome Having spoke those words which Tiberius heard with an augmentation of grief and jealousie he was going towards him to give him an assistance he
Dominions rather then to my Authority and in fine propose it to your choice either to marry Agrippa or to be returned to your Father to be disposed of in Marriage as he shall think fit The Princess's colour chang'd at these words and her grief and astonishment not suffering her to speak she continued a while silent but at last overcoming her natural madness she summoned all the supplies of her courage to her assistance and remembring her self to be a Princess of the blood of the Arsacides and only Daughter to a King who acknowledged precedence to no man whatsoever she became of a sudden more consident than ordinary and looking on the Emperour with more assurance then she had ever expressed before The Fortune said she to him that hath put me into your power hath not given you a right to force me to marry Agrippa or any other person of your Empire and it was never yet known that the Daughters and Crown of Parthia were at the disposai of the Romans But if contrary to your promise and the protection you have given me you will return me into the power of a Father whose displeasure I avoid I had rather be exposed to that necessity then to the former you would impose upon me and I shall think it more honourable and more supportable to appease though with the loss of my life a Father whose cruelty is known to all then to be treated as a Slave among the Romans These couragious words of Elisa which her just resentments forced from her contrary to her nature made the Emperour blush but being fixed in the resolution he had taken he was nothing mov'd thereat and desirous to let her know what she was to trust to suitably to what he had begun You cannot say added he that you are any way treated as a Slave since you are at liberty either to take such a Husband as I should not think unworthy my own Daughter or to receive one from the hands of the King your Father to whose disposal you say you will submit your self So that you may see you are not here either treated with injustice or forced by Authority but the same reason which obliges me to forbear the latter towards you because you are Daughter to a King who hath no dependence on our Empire obliges me to do him a civility which I conceive due to him and such as I should expect from him upon the like occasion I give you two dayes to consider what resolution you will take and that time expired I shall send Phraates notice of your being here as also to know whether he desires you should be returned to him or delivered into the hands of Tigranes who he is desirous should be your Husband You may do what you think fit replies the Princess for I am so fully satisfied as to what I am to do that I desire no longer time to resolve With those words giving way to sorrow and seeling a torrent of tears ready to force their passage to make an inundation in her countenance she took leave of the Empress and retir'd to her Lodgings with Urione and Cephisa who had attended her In her way thither she met with Alcamenes and Artaban and upon sight of the latter the tears she would have suppressed broke forth in such manner as that her face was all bath'd therewith Those two great men were much troubled at the spectacle though with much inequality and the passion of Britomarus not suffering him in the disturbance whereby he was surpriz'd to express himself the Scythian King whose thoughts were less engag'd coming up to the Princess tender'd her his hand and with Artaban accompanyed her to her Chamber Being satisfied that that King a person of great and generous inclinations had a particular affection for Artaban and openly countenanced his Addresses for her she made no difficulty to disburthen her mind before him and in his presence to give Artaban an account of what had happened to her and the cruel resolution Augustus had taken Alcamenes who was already dissatistied with the proceedings of Augustus against Coriolanus and Caesario and was vext at the small regard he had had for his intreaties on their behalf could not but disapprove this discovery of his Tyranny nor sorbear inveighing against it in such terms as whence it might be inferr'd he was extremely troubled thereat But for Artaban he took it so hainously that being of an humour that could not brook injuries especally such as proceeded from Tyranny it had almost put him upon some violent resolution But he moderated his resentments not only out of the respect he had for Elisa but also what he thought due to a great Monarch who so generously concerned himself in his affairs So that after that conquest of himself which both took particular notice of turning to the Princess he asked her what she had resolved to do but it was with such trembling and submissiveness and with so much distrust in his countenance that the Princess was extremely moved to compassion thereat and accordingly desirous to give him all the comfort and encouragement she could I am resolved said she to him and I speak it before the King since he allows us that freedome and hath the goodness to concern himself in our misfortunes I am resolved to stand to the promise I have made you to be yours when I may do it without any breach of duty and if I cannot be yours never to be any mans So that you may be confident that all the power either of Caesar or Phraates shall never force my consent either to marry Agrippa or bestow myself on Tigranes but I am much at a loss how to avoid the violences I may be subject to not as to what concerns my will which shall ever be free and unmoveable but my person which it is in the power of fortune to expose to tyranny and which hath been once already forced by an unjust authority and I shall be glad of your advice to direct me to those courses which it shall be most consistent with my honour and quality to follow There is no other course to be thought on sayes Artaban to her but that of leaving Alexandria and I am in doubt replies immediately the Princess whether there be a possibility of escape hence it being unlikely that considering the violence used against me I should be still at liberty Were I so happy added the undaunted Britomarus as that my Princess would trust her self to the conduct of her faithful Artaban I would rescue her out of the hands of Caesar and all the powers in the world but it is my misfortune that it is the consent of my Soveraign I have to oppose and not the tyranny of my enemies It is not to be doubted saies the Scythian King speaking to the Princess but that you are now observed and that your departure will be hindred if it be discovered but you must fasten on such a course
careless of all things Having had this account from Arsanes we suffered him to pursue his voyage and quitting our course towards Lybia made for Alexandria where after a dangerous voyage by reason of foul weather wherein we were like to have been lost I am at last safely arrived and as happily as I could have wish'd since I find my Daughter and with her Prince Artaban both in a condition to pass away your lives according to my wishes and inclinations and to go and satisfie the desires of the Parthians who impatiently expects you to put upon your heads the Crown of their Monarchs This was the closure of the Queens discourse and she had no sooner given over speaking but Artaban cast himself at her feet and embrac'd her knees with all the discoveries of the greatest and humblest acknowledgement which she could have expected from the meanest of her subjects The Queen embraced him as a Son and looking on him as the person who within a few days was to be King of Parthia she could not receive those submissions from him but forced him to rise and seat himself as before He obey'd her not till he had done the same homage to the Princess with greater expressions of love and respect then he had ever discovered before But though he saw her in countenance the marks of a joy she could not well dissemble yet was there not the least appearance of any in his and instead of entertaining with any excess of gladness the discovery of a happiness to which he aspired but with very doubtful hopes he continued in the same posture he was in before the Queen's discourse nay seemed rather to be somewhat less chearful Elisa and the Queen were not a little dissatisfied thereat insomuch that the Queen having a greater confidence then her Daughter upon that occasion asked him Whether he found any thing in the discourse she had entertained him with whence he might derive any sadness Artaban knew wll enough what had given the Queen occasion to put that question to him and making her answer with certain sighs which forc'd their way out Madam said he to her the Fortune you bring me tidings of is such as whereof there is not any among men nay not among the Gods lif may presume so highly can entertain the discovery with moderation but with all this I can conceive no other joy thereat then what might proceed from a pleasant Dream or rather being built upon a Foundation I shall my self presently shake I cannot rejoice thereat I might Madam said he to the Queen and I might Madam continued he addressing himself to the Princess suffer you to continue in an errour which for ought I perceive you are much satisfi'd in nay an errour which makes infinitely for my advantage But may it not please the Gods how great soever the Fortune may be whereto you would raise me that I should purchase it by a Cheat and may all my hopes be defeated with my life before I put any Trick upon my Princess If Artaban descended onely of Noble Bloud or rather if Britomarius whose Fortune consists in his Sword be worthy the glory to serve you dispose of his life and make his condition such as you desire it but if to merit the Honour you would do me I must be a Prince descended from Arsaces reserve it for some other whose Birth hath been happier than mine Not but that I feel something stirring in my heart as great as if I were a Prince of that Bloud but in fine Madam I must disclaim it Artanez is not my Father and I were too unworthy the Fortune you offer me should I be won to endeavour it by falshood and an unjust pretence These words of Artaban which he uttered with a courage wholly admirable struck a paleness into the Princess 's countenance and fill'd her heart with a sudden grief She cast her eyes on Artaban but with a look such as wherein he could not but observe her displeasure through her grief and presently after fastened them on the ground out of an astonishment that suffer'd her not to speak But the Queen was not in a like distraction and after she had a while looked very earnestly on him Artaban said she to him do you think the Present made you so inconsiderable that to avoid it you will disclaim a glorious birth and prefer the condition of a private person before that of a Prince of the Bloud of Arsaces together with Elisa and the Parthian Crown I prefer replies Artaban the Glory to serve Elisa before the bloud of the Gods and the Empire of the Universe but if that glory be reserv'd for a Prince descended from Arsaces it is not for the unfortunate Britomarius to pretend thereto Britomarius is the name I receiv'd at my birth under that name of Britomarius I passed away my younger years in the service of the Queen of Ethiopia under that name I first serv'd in the Wars under the King of Armenia and I have had the happiness to make it remarkable therein by some advantages I derived from my Sword and Fortune And I will discover to you in few words if you will give me leave how I came to that of Artaban which I have continu'd out of a respect to the honour I have had to serve the Princess Elisa under that name and which for that very reason I have preferr'd before that of Britomarius This discourse shall not take up many words and as I looked on this particular of my life as that of least importance so is it that onely which my Princess hath not had an account of After I had rendred some considerable services to the King of Armenia in the War he was engag'd in against the King of Media and which made the name of Britomarius known in his Armies and Dominions by some fortunate successes having not been able to disswade him from a cruelty he exercised on certain Princes I had taken prisoners and having dis-engag'd my self from him upon the opposition I would have made of a most injurious and ungrateful treatment I much dissatisfi'd quitted his service and left his Dominions with a design to follow the Wars elsewhere and fasten on the occasions of acquiring Fame which I preferred before all things With these thoughts I took my way having not many persons about me as being unwilling to make any advantage of the services I had done that cruel King when coming to the Frontiers between that Kingdome and Media and crossing a thick Wood I at first heard a confused noise accompany'd with certain cries and soon after coming up to see what the matter was I found several persons engaged in an unequal combat or rather in a base and villanous assassinate Divers men arm'd all over and well mounted had set upon a single man who without any other arms then his Sword was Hunting in the Wood with some Servants no better furnished than himself and being a person of much valour
a blow over the head which no doubt had forced him into the Moat had he not fastened to the Battlement he had taken hold of and would have seconded it if the valiant Son of Pompey whom the former blow had not much disordered had not prevented him by one of his own which coming from a more powerful arm forced him to fall among his men deeply wounded This performed Artaban getting up upon the wall reached his hand to young Ptolomey who was not far from him and not long after Alexander was also gotten up Eteocles Briton and the Ethiopians followed them with much courage and less difficulty and Artaban and the two Sons of Anthony were hardly gotten upon the wall but Levinus's Souldiers left him in disorder discouraged both by the presence of such enemies and the fall of their chief Commander The Princes would not suffer those frighted wretches to be put to death though they had much adoe to keep in the furious Ethiopians from falling upon them and only commanded them to lay down their arms open the Castle gate and let down the Draw-Bridge to let in Queen Candace and the rest of the Ethiopians with those others of their party that should be desirous to come in not doubting but that Cesar would soon either bring or send forces against them and that those who were found without would be cut to pieces The gate was opened at which entred first Queen Candace and after her the rest of the Ethiopians and the Citizens who had taken up arms who were not above three hundred men the rest having either been killed in the assault or run away As soon as all were got in and that Levinus's Souldiers were sent out of the Castle Ptolomey with Briton and Eteocles placed Souldiers for the defence of the place as they thought requisite expecting to be soon set upon and in the interim the fair Queen conducted by Artaban and Alexander went to find out her Caesario She took not the pains to go up to his Chamber for those who guarded the Princes seeing the Castle forced had cast themselves at their feet and begged their lives by bringing them the tidings of their liberty so that the Queen and Artaban met them altogether at the Stair-foot coming towards their valiant deliverers Candace no sooner cast her eye on Cesario but the violence of her affection forcing her to neglect the civilities might be due to the rest she runs to him with her arms spread and embracing him just as he would have cast him at her feet bathed his countenance with tears which love and grief forced from her Their mutual transportation was such as for a while tyed up their tongues insomuch that before they had the time to speak Candace found her self in the embraces of Cleopatra who by the earnestness of her caresses assured her of the greatness of her affection The Queen returned her the like and both discovered upon that occasion that their friendship was as solid as if it had been of many years continuance Ah Madam sayes the Son of Cesar to the Queen is it then to you that we are obliged for our lives and is it you who to the shame of our Sex have executed so great an enterprize It 's not to me replies the Queen but to the great Artaban that you are obliged and to your two brothers who have generously seconded him With those words she presented Artaban to him and the two Sons of Anthony while Cleopatra presented to her the King of Mauritania Cesario runs to Artaban with his arms spread and the son of Pompey who knew himself to be of a birth equal to his received his caresses with more equality then at other times though not guilty of ever the more pride Is it thus then sayes the son of Cesar to him that you treat your ancient enemies and add the obligations of life to the admiration we had for your Virtue I was your enemy replies Artaban upon an account I understood not and which now that I do cannot produce so unjust an effect in me and I should think it a great happiness if I could by any service force it out of your memory While Caesario replyed with the same civility and much acknowledgment and afterwards was imbracing his two brothers and expressing the resentment he had of their assistances Candace whom Coriolamus had saluted looked on his person with admiration and would have given the Prince occasion to look on her beauty with some astonishment if all those in the world remitted not somewhat of their lustre when near that of Cleopatra After she had receiv'd from him all the expressions he could give her of a submissive respect and discover'd to him her own sentiments with the greatest civility possible knowing that Cesario and he had not seen one the other during their restraint how much soever they both might have desir'd it she would not any longer delay their being known one to another The two Princes made their acquaintance with equal earnestness were equally surpris'd at the advantages they observ'd in one anothers persons What says the King of Mauritania I have at last the happiness to see that illustrious brother of my Princess and I am no longer added Cesario at the same time kept from the embraces of that famous Lover of my sister whose reputation is so noble They had given greater expressions of the esteem and friendsip they mutually conceiv'd one for the other had they not reflected on what they ought both to the assiatance and person of the great Artaban Coriolanus had seen him arm'd and understood at Tiridates's house the initials of his adventures under the name of Britomarus but had since learnt that he was that famous Artaban whose fame had fill'd the Universe and who had been acknowledg'd a Prince descended from Arsaces design'd for the Crown of Parthia so that seeing him engag'd in that occasion looking on him as the valiant defender on his life to assure him both of his resentment and esteem he did all could be expected from the most generous and most acknowledging person in the world Artaban answer'd to both the most nobly imaginable thereupon the three Princes looked on one the other with equal admiration and certainly it was with much justice all the earth being not able to afford anything worthy it so much though fortune might have been more favourable to some others either of their time or before it Alexander and Ptolomey receiv'd from the Lover of their Sister what he ought the blood of Cleopatra excellency of their persons and the service they had done him These civilities passed Marcellus and Drusus who would not interrupt the first Rallies of Love and Friendship coming up to them receiv'd from that illustrious company what with reason they could not deny them and besides what might be due not only to a Nephew of Caesar and Son of Livia but to two Princes of admirable virtu ther was
arrival The Queen had then strength enough to walk about the Chamber and hoped in a short time to endure a Litter which enabled her with a little help to give him the Complement of a meeting at the Chamber door he entered it leaning upon Artaban's Arm with a very plausible deportment thts Prince had a handsome aspect his years were about six or seven and twenty his accost very civil and the converse agreeable He treated us with a great deal of respect told the Queen he was come to confirm the promise Artaban had made her that he was sorry her malady had hindred her from gathering the fruits of it and that the satisfaction he resented to see her in a place where he might offer her some acceptable service was moderated by the displeasure he took from her indisposition The Queen replyed to this discourse with a great deal of acknowledgment assured him in behalf of the King her Husband that his Generosity would gain a greater conquest upon him than his Arms and forgot nothing that a dextrous and discreet Princess might speak to purpose at such an encounter Tigranes staid and entertained us that whole day but at the next interview he directed his language and behaviour to me with a partitular addresse and by the cruelty of my destiny mistook something in my face that he thought was amiable His first expressions were seasoned with nought but common civility and he contented himself to make me a discourse that might passe for a piece of gallantry among persons of any equal condition the second day he made my beauty his Theme and spent some Rhetorick in praises upon it though he let fall no language that imported it had made any Sculpture upon his heart but at the third he explained himself more openly and approaching to me near a window while Artaban entertained the Queen by his command Madam said she such Prisoners as you are very dangerous and I fear Artaban has done me a disservice in detaining you here so long to make an unhappy passe of my condition into the same with yours These words which I was not accustomed to hear discomposed me so strangely as I wanted assurance on the sudden to shape him an answer only in letting fall my looks to the ground I endeavoured to give him notice that I was uterly unprepared for discourses of that nature Do Madam added he remarking my action do turn aside those bright eies perhaps for shame of your last conquest the wounds they made are deeper and more mortal than any of those swords can give that are drawn to decide our quarrel and believe it the King of Parthia has nothing so powerful as they to disarm us or make me do homage to his Empire He said no more and the intelligence he took from my face that his words had refused me made him preserve the rest till some other time and address his discourse to my Mother but that Evening retiring with Artaban as I since understood Ah Artaban said he what a milky path of beauty is this Parthian Princess and how over-seen were you that you did not forewarn me of the danger to behold her Artaban was troubled to hear these words and the jealous conjectures he drew from these beginnings taught him too well to presage a part of the sequel but if he was nettled with those thoughts I was not less perplexed at the discourse his Master had made me and the Queen taking notice of some stings of discontent that stuck in my visage pressed me so earnestly to reveal the cause as I was constrained to strip the truth of it to her knolwedge The next day my anxieties were very sensibly redoubled and Tigranes repeating his visit having once more engaged the Queen in a discourse with two Princes of his lineage accosted me with more confidence than before and anticipating of a part of what he had to say by his looks I know not Madam said she whether the King your Father makes use of you to revenge his quarrel but I am sure he could not impose a harder condition upon his cruellest Enemy than the sad Estate whereto your beauty has reduced me and if I did not hope some redresse from your pity I should think my self the most unfortunate and lost Prince that ever felt a passion The close of this discourse was as unwelcome to myear as the Prologue and now no longer willing to personate a stupid insensibility I strugled with my self to return him this answer The King of Parthia's resentments said I are enjoyned by Justice to design a large part of their animosity to those noble offices we have received from you and yours and I cannot comprehend how you should be reduced to a condition worthy of pity either by his arms or mine I know not Tigranes whether to die daily for you will give me a good title to your companion but of this I am assured that the charity of it can never expend it self upon a greater necessity and if pains and sufferings can attract it never had any torment a better claim than mine This hardy discourse which implyed but little respect to a Princesse with whom the King's acquaintance was not above four daies old did a little anger me and not able to dissemble it My present condition said I enforces me to that from you which perhaps your own discretion would make some conscience to suffer dispense with at another season Tigranes was guided by these words to observe such a discontent upon my brow as perswaded him then to give over the pursuit of that subject but a few daies after he renewed the chase and in fine gaveme plainly to understand that I was reduced to endure his perfecutions Artaban who drove a greater interest in his Masters new-born passion that we conjectured perceived it with a very sensible displeasure and resolved to employ all his power to cut it off in its infancy the Queen quickly found her self able to endure a Little and perceiving it high time to challenge the promise of her liberty gave notice to Artaban that health would not permit her to accept his offer Artaban who knew he had no less reason to expedite the performance than she to demand it and who could not see us in the power of Tygranes without such disquiets as result from a timerous jealousie readily dispos'd himself to render us that office and the same day moved the King to confirm his grant whereof the effects had only been retarded by the Queens indisposition Tygranes received this proposition from Artaban with a face full of trouble and after he had taken some time to return his answer Artaban said he what need you make such hast to precipitate a business that does not demand it the Queen of Parthia has not been ill treated among us and we shall have time enough to talk of her departure when we may agree to it with more civility Artaban heard these words with a mortal
might displease me or discover our intelligence neither would he receive any thing that the King offered him for his Conduct and to put him into Equipage and I was not troubled at it remembring that I had seen him have a Picture Case which he had formerly received from the King his Father with the Pourtraicture of that Prince enriched with Diamonds of a great value which would yield him above Thirty Talents at the first Town he came to though he sold them for half their worth The King by the refusal he made of his assistance confirmed himself in the belief he had That he was of no mean extraction and that thought rendred him the more suspitious and redoubtable to him and yet he confessed in his presence that it was his misfortune to observe in a man whom he neither could nor ought to love all the qualities that might attract both love and admiration I will not tell you how Ariobarzanes resented our separation for we had not the liberty to speak together but for my part my fair Princesses I confess I was so sensible of it that I had no room for comfort in my Soul and it was no small redoubling of my greif to see my self in a condition and in a place where I could no way discover it and where I was obliged to a cruel and rigorous constraint I ventured for all that once more to write some words to Ariobarzanes by that means which I formerly made use of and having taken my time as before though with a little more trouble and fear I was so continually afraid to expose him to some danger I gave him opportunity to read these few words engraved upon the same Plank and with the same Bodkin which had rendred us the former Office Wait as I do upon the leasure of Heaven for some change in our Fortune endeavour it if you can without exposing your self but be sure you do not make your self known and if you cannot see me without putting your life in danger in the Name of the Gods never see me more I could not write these last words without shedding some tears and Ariobarzanes could not read them without having need of all his constancy to dissemble his grief He presently blotted out that which I had writ and added these few words below I will love you to my Grave I will see you again whatsoever befalls and I shall expose nothing that is mine when in seeing you I shall only hazard that life which I have devoted to you It being somewhat difficult to grave upon the Wood we could not write longer Letters and after I had blotted out this last I would not venture any more for fear that at last we might have been surprized Nevertheless I found opportunity to let Ericia speak with him and she being much less observed than I it being no strange matter that upon the acquaintance which they had contracted in the time which they had been together they should have some Discourse she took her time to assure him from me of the firmness of my affection and to protest to him That though I was not resolved ever to bestow my self upon him upon my own single motion in assuming a liberty which would be condemned by persons of my Birth yet for all that I would do all that possibly I could never to be any ones else but his and I would govern my self so in that design that he should never have any cause to accuse me She told him That as for his part he might take any course that his affection and prudence should direct him to and provided he did not hazard his life too rashly I had so good an opinion of him as to commit to his conduct whatsoever might concern me but above all he should keep himself from being known to be a Kings Son and be assured that the equality of our conditions rendring him more suspicious and redoubtable to Adallas would be infallibly fatal to him Ariobarzanes received these Testimonies of my affection with great expressions of content and comfort and after that he had loaded Ericia with a thousand protestations of eternal fidelity Assure my Princess added he That no difficulty no fear of death shall be able to deprive her of one moment of my life that I will live to serve her that I will see her again and find out wayes for her to make me happy if her goodness continues favourable to me Let her never fear my Conduct as young and as passionate as I am I will manage her interests in that manner that she shall never receive any displeasure upon that account In the mean time my good and generous Ericia keep her still if you can possibly in these inclinations of pity which she hath for me and represent to her if you please that she cannot forget her faithful Ariobarzanes without committing a cruelty which the gods will never pardon he made her divers other very passionnate Discourses till he thought the length of their Conversation might make it be suspected Ericia tenderly affected me with the Report she made me of it and it was easie for Adallas to perswade himself more and more by the sadness which he observed in my countenance that the departure of Ariamenes did not leave me without displeasure In the mean time we drew near to the Isle of Cyprus and the City of Carpasia which was the nearest Port. The King made us go ashoar and caused himself to be carried out of the Vessel to one of the Houses in the City but he was minded to see Ariobarzanes gone first and when the Prince took his leave of him Farewell Ariamenes said he Accuse my misfortune and not my ingratitude that I cannot be thy Friend and be sure to remember that we must never meet again and that Thrace is a Country fatal to thy life whither thou must never come but with a resolution to lose it I know it Sir said Ariamenes and I shall remember it without doubt but if we ever do see another again it may possibly be in such a manner that the second view may be as welcome to thee as the first Adallas possibly did not understand these last words at least he made him no Reply neither did Ariobarzanes give him time to do it but having taken his leave of me with a profound Reverence which Adallas's presence could not hinder him from expressing to me he turned his back and all alone and on foot he took a different way from that which we went I confess that I was as sensible of this separation as if I had lost one half of my self but I was forced to dissemble my grief by a cruel constraint and I could not so easily do it but that Adallas found occasion in the changing of my countenance to make me divers reproaches We went to the City where without discovering our selves we were well lodged and there the Kings Chyrurgions took care of his recovery You will
perswade the King that I loved him less than I did yet the gods know that his life was dearer to me than mine own and I would willingly have given mine if Adallas would have been so contented for the preservation of his But though by a prodigious change I could have wrought my inclinations to Adallas's will yet I had too good an opinion of the Affection and Courage of Ariobarzanes to believe that he would receive his life in exchange of his hopes or consent upon any consideration that to purchase his liberty I should throw my self into that misfortune which I had so much avoided and against which I had so much horror and repugnance Besides I could not absolutely believe that the King whatsoever he threatned was resolved to put him to death after such pressing and known obligations and it was probable that unless he had the heart of a Tyger and his eyes closed against all considerations of honour Adallas would never proceed to those extremities In the interim I found a way to prevail with Eusthenes who of himself was not disaffected to Ariobarzanes not to permit me to see him but to give way that I might have a Note conveyed to him by Erieia's Brother who was in my Service and in whom I had a great deal of confidence the Note was in these terms The Princess Olympia to Ariamenes IF you were in another Condition doubtless I should complain of the injury you have done me in coming as you have done to cast away a life which you know is not indifferent to me but it would ill become me to reproach you whil'st you are a Prisoner for my sake and I ought rather to use my endeavours to set you free at any rate but what is demanded of me in expectation of a better opportunity to accuse you of the little care you have had of your own safety and my repose You may judge how far I participate in your disgrace by the interest I have in it and the thoughts I have for you they are and alwayes shall be such as are due to the merit of your person and affection and I should render my self unworthy of the testimonies you have given me of it if I did not look upon your misfortunes as mine own Ariobarzanes received a great deal of consolation by the reading of my Letter and as nothing was capable of making any strong impression upon so great a Courage as his but what had relation to his love so he was more contented in his imprisonment after this testiomony of my Affection than he could have been in the absolute injoyment of his liberty if he had been uncertain what thoughts I had for him By the liberty which Eusthenes gave him to do it yet with all possible secresie he had the means to discourse with Euricia's Brother whom I sent to him and who according to the charge I had given him to that purpose gave him a full Account in what manner I supported his Captivity how I delt with the King upon that Account and how I was resolved not to suffer him to perish upon my occasion without bearing of him Company Ariobarzanes received these marks of my friendship with all the testimonies of a perfect acknowledgment and after he had expressed as much to Ericia's Brother in the most extatical words that the most violent Affection could furnish him withal he gave him a Letter with the same secresie and precaution whereof these were the words Ariamenes to the Princess Olympia I Do not think my self unfortunate since that my fair Princess takes a share in my misfortune and my Fetters are now more worthy of Envy than Commiseration I beg your pardon for what I have undertaken to gain a sight of you I cannot justifie my self in it since you have received some displeasure upon that Account But in truth it was a very difficult thing to have seen to have adored the Princess Olympia and to live without a second sight of her 'T is true that happiness which hath been sought with some danger and is of too high a value to be obtained any other way is cruelly denied me And this my fair Princess is all the misfortune of my life and all that can be worthy of pity in my condition I am too much obliged to your goodness for having refused those conditions which the King hath offered you for my safty and as you know very well that no consideration could have rendred you excuseable of a crime before the gods or men if you had accepted of them so you are not ignorant that by bestowing the Princess Olympia upon Adallas you would put Ariamenes to a far more cruel death than Adallas could do either by Sword or Poyson I will not go about to confirm you in that resolution being sufficiently acquainted with your vertue to believe that it will be as immoveable as the fidelity of Ariamenes His Letter was of no larger extent though he had matter enough because he left it to Ericia's Brother to acquaint me with all their Discourse He did so divers times because I took a pleasure to make him repeat all the words which he had heard from Ariobarzanes's mouth and by the Relation which he made me of his passionate Discourse and his resolution to suffer a thousand deaths for my sake if he was capable of suffering so many with joy and patience he did so confirm me in the affection I had for him that he would have been unjust if he had desired any more of me But alas after I had done discoursing with Ericia's Brother I had scarcely read over this Letter once more but I received another from the King which turned me into Ice with fear and these were the very expressions of it The King of Thrace to the Princess Olympia YOU have signed the death of Ariamenes by the Letters which you wrote to me and since you consent to his death all humane considerations shall not be able to secure him from it I should have given you your share of the spectacle which I intend before this but that I was minded to participate of it my self and am detained here by some occasions which are strong enough to retard my vengeance a few dayes I am marching to give Merodates Battel and to morrow without any farther delay the decision of our Fortune will appear After my Victory I will turn all my Arms against Ariamenes and when I shall have no other Enemies to fight with I shall the better execute my vengeance against the last and the most dangerous of my Enemies I know not how very well to represent to you what my resentments were upon the reading of this Letter and I had much ado to contain my self within the limits of that respect and consideration which was due to Adallas I returned him no Answer in writing but contented my self only to say to him who brought me his Letter Tell the King that the success of Battels is