Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A42646
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Elogium heroinum, or, The praise of worthy women written by C.G., Gent.
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C. G. (Charles Gerbier)
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1651
(1651)
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Wing G583; ESTC R7654
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34,740
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214
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wretched times which make life a shame to be born a misfortune My fall shall ease your thoughts make my revenge happy and I who will not live an example of dishonour to women will dye an example of fortitude to men This said shee plunged a knife into her heart and fell down dead thereon Theoxena being environed at Sea by the Navie of Philip King of Macedon seeing her husband thrown over-board leapt after him not onely to express her love to her husband but to preserve her selfe from the tyrannie of the Conqueror Alexander the Great wrote a letter to his mother in this manner Alexander the sonne of Jupiter Hamon to his mother Olympia wisheth health To whom with great modesty she thus replyed Dear son as you love mee instead of doing mee honour proclaim not my dishonour neither accuse mee before Juno besides it is a great aspersion you cast upon mee to make mee a Strumpet though to Jupiter himself And thus this famous Queen would not for any swelling title or vain ostentation lose the honour to be called a loyal and chaste wife Cornelia the illustrious mother of the Gracchi to preserve the honour of a chaste widow denied to marry the King Ptolomeus although he offered to impart to her a Diadem and a Scepter Dyrrachina being taken prisoner covenanted with her cruel Victor that if hee would but reprieve her honour for the present she would reveal unto him a secret by the which hee should preserve his body from being wounded The Souldier having accepted of the condition shee told him that it was the vertue of a certain herbe with whose juice if he did anoint any part of his body it should preserve it free from being wounded and to shew him the effects thereof shee from a neighbours garden plucked up the weed that next came to hand with the sap or moisture thereof she anointed her own neck and bidding him to draw out his sword and make triall of her whether shee kept not a faithfull Covenant with him the Souldier giving credit to her words in regard of her constancie and courage with one strong blow struck off her head A most resolute and noble Lady to prefer death before the losse of her honour Annia Romana having buried her first husband in her youth and being continually perswaded by her friends to a second marriage she answered it was a motion which she would by no means assent unto for said she Should I happen upon a good man such a one as my first husband was I would not then live in that perpetual fear to lose him but if otherwise why should I hazard to put my self upon a bad one that am so late punisht by the losse of so good a one Democion the Athenian Virgin hearing that Leosthenes to whom shee was contracted was slain in the wars she killed her self but before her death shee thus reasoned with her self Although my body is untoucht yet should I fall into the imbraces of another I should but deceive the second since I am still married to the former in my heart Alice Countess of Salisbury being importuned continually by King Edward the third to yeeld unto his inordinate desires and having sent for her thinking to compel her and to use his royal Authority she cast her self down at the Kings feet and with an ocean of tears accompained with words able to mollifie Steel or to soften Flints she declared That since her unhappy destiny had brought her thither before his presence as the innocent lamb committed to the sacrifice she most humbly craved that his Majesty would be pleased to grant unto her one request whereat the King replied with a solemn oath that he would not refuse any thing unto her shee then took a knife which shee had conveyed under her Gown saying that the request which shee had craved and the which his Majesty had been pleased with his royal Faith to grant her was That she did most humbly beseech him that he would rather then take away her honour with his sword end her most unhappy life or else that hee would be pleased to give her leave to kill her self with that knife which she had purposely brought that so her innocent bloud might bear witness before God of her undefiled chastity The King being astonisht and assured of the chastity and constancie of this vertuous Lady took her to be his lawful wife Baldraca though she was of mean parentage and of an inferior fortune could neither by threats nor promises of worldly honours or promotion be tempted to prostitute her self to the Emperor Otho Isabella a Damsel of Ravenna threw her self headlong into the river Medoacus wherein shee was drowned to shun the violent lusts of some Venetian Souldiers Britonia a beautiful maid of Crete to shun the importunities of King Minos cast her self likewise into a River where shee was drowned Pithomena a Virgin of Alexandria being a Citizens slave was so fair and so vertuous that her Master became in love with her but when he saw hee coald neither with promises nor threats gain her he began to hate her more then ever he had loved her and though he had accused her to be a Christian as indeed she was yet nevertheless she remained constant in her deliberation and resolved rather to suffer a cruell death as shee did being put into boyling pitch then to lose her chastity With her therefore I close this relation of chaste Women and Virgins and lest I should omit any thing that might tend to the grace and honor of that Sex I shall alledge somewhat of their abilities to govern Of Womens abilities to Govern CEres Queen of Sicil was the first that taught People to live according unto the Lawes and therefore she was by the Ancients called a Goddesse Mirrhe Queen of the Lydians was by them reckoned amongst seven of their Kings by which they boast to have been governed Semyramis manfully governed her Kingdome for the space of 24 years performing many admirable things surpassing her Sexe Teuca a Warlike woman Queen of the Illyrians wife unto Argon took upon her selfe the soveraignty and governed wisely she opposed the violence of the Romans and obtained on them many noble victories Zenobia Queen of the Palmirians after the death of her husband Odenatus took upon her the Imperial Regencie and made the Kingdom of Syria tributary unto her Valasca Queen of the Bohemians governed her Kingdom and managed all her affairs herself without the help or Councel of any man Athalia Queen of the Hebrews Saba of the Ethiopians Amalasuntha of the Goths Hester of the Persians Harpalice of the Amazons do all of them deserve an immortal praise for their well-governing Queen Mercea wife to Guinthelinus king of Britain governed wisely and established many profitable Lawes which were much esteemed by the Britains and carefully observed being called after her name The Mercean lawes many Ages ensuing It was a custome among the Celtans a people of France
eminencies it require Nay ought we not Turn pupils unto them obey shame though to our Their profound precepts disclaim Those vices which us daily sway Even those as 't were us captive hold By fettred passions manifold Awake therefore ye sons of men Rub up your drowsie souls 't is meet We should take heart of grace agen Rowse up your selves stand on your feet At least endeavor to regain Our honors by these females slain My Author doth to you recount The several faculties wherein These worthy Women us surmount As paterns for vs to begin Our nâ—w profession by the same By which they gain'd eternal fame Wherefore with him let us adore Those deities let 's follow close Their vertuous foot-steps implore To be accounted even as those Whopast their lives in great renown And now entomb'd enjoy a Crown Geo. Gerbier Esq The Printer's Apologie For not having inserted on the Frontispiece of this Book all the Verses which were sent unto him Courteous Reader WHen a sumptuous Scene is to be represented or when a solemn Tilting is to be performed and that an Amphytheater is prepared then from all parts such multitudes of People resort thereunto as that the main for which they came together is by them almost hidden Therefore that this Scene this Race and Amphytheater whereunto most men of this World if not all would willingly resort first with their Eyes then with their Hands finally with all their Senses striving and contesting which of them all should soonest be admitted might appeare and not be smothered up by the presse of so many whose Pens may pretend as much right as this Author to shew themselves And lest he should suffer that deserves so well in the setting forth of this glorious Scene I have omitted the inserting of several Verses and do publish by that Trumpet of Fame by that of Vertue by that of Constancie and by that of Honour which these Women do possess to stand by and to make use here onely of your eyes For Woman is the Mark and Woman is the Trophie And then will this Work appeare in its best lustre The Preface TO THE READER AS the Breast-plate of Judgment which the High-priest wore did beare these words Vrim Thummim which signifie Light and Perfection So on the Frontispiece of this Book there appeares so powerful a Charm as that all those cannot chuse but be void of wit and reason who have not the curiosity to view that which it contains for those things which it relates possesse all the requisite perfections to strike an admiration into the minds of sensible Creatures It is that powerful Charm which made Achilles to forsake a Battel It is that which Narcissus disdaining pined away for his own shadow It is that the losse whereof Alexander did lamentwith tears It is that by means whereof Socrates Plato Aristotle and all the rest of the Philosophers have attained unto such a famous reputation It is that without which all our humane life would have been but a manifest death It is that for which in former Ages men would rather lose their Seats their Authority their Office then falsly to suspect it or rashly to accuse it It is that the sight whereof struck Tyrasius King of Thebes blind It is that which did not only subdue Alexander who had subduâ—d all the Eastern Kingdoms and who was Lord of all the World but also Caesar and Hanibal and which constrained Euristes King of Athens to seek unto Hercules and Theseus to be aiding unto him to withstand its power It is that at the beholding whereof the Lybian Lions lose their strength and the Basilisk his senses It is that which hath been admired by the great Philosophers by Solomon himself the wisest of all men who did acknowledge that it was more worth then precious pearls It is that the least part whereof ought to ravish us even with admiration And it is that which was made in Paradise which represents the lively Image of the Creator a Body framed by an admirable architecture a Soul endowed with understanding reason wit judgment will memory imagination and opinion a Soul which in an instant flies from one Pole to the other descends to the Center and ascends to the top of the world again In a word here you have it It is Woman the miracle of the world and the marvel of marvels which here is exposed unto your view accompanied with Presidents of Vertue and Statues of Honour and whatsoever else can be included in goodnesse which if you will deign to read it so as to understand it well and which is best of all to follow their examples then will your memories out-live Posterity As for the foregoing threefold Dedication of this Treatise though it may happily not much concern the Reader yet neverthelesse rather then that any should wonder at it I will give him a reason for it It is the first of all numbers and in natural Philosophy there are three principles three Theological vertues and three Graces But that which chiefly moved mee thereunto was the pleasing of my self thereby since that is the spring from whence every vertue begins to flow the Sea unto which they run and where all of them end their course It 's the onely thing which next unto the fear of God I chiefly aim at Rhetorick Logick Philosophy Musick all Arts and Sciences are referred unto this principle to wit that they might be profiable and pleasing unto us Doth not an Orator rejoyce when he seeth his Clyent delivered by his Plea Doth not the Logician laugh when as he perceives that his enemy is driven to a dilemma Doth not the Philosopher inwardly smile when hee hath sifted out the secrets of hidden causes Doth not the Musitians heart leap for joy when as he beholds that men are ravished with his melody And therefore since that all Vertues all Arts and all the actions of this life do tend next unto the fear of God unto our particular pleasure who can condemn me for having pleased my self But as for the Treatise it self I am taught by Sapho that no Note of Musick and by Crassus that no Vein of Rhetorick contenteth all mens ears who listen or apply their senses unto the sound of harmony therefore if distasteful Criticks shall mis-interpret the innocency of my harmlesse meaning I shall but reply as did Ben-Johnson Their praise or dispraise is to me alike Th' one doth not stroak me nor the other strike And. for those prating Sicophants those Zoylusses and Momusses of all ages those detractors and evill speakers who esteem it it far better to be wicked then vertuous and who by their virulent tongues abusing this most worthy Sexe have abused their own mothers and consequently themselves let them talk and prate at their pleasure they shall never be able although they had the same authority which Plato heretofore had in Greece or the eloquence of Cicero to perswade rational men that those