satisfied that I was truely sensible of the hainousnesse of my crime was extreamly moved at it himself by the discoveries I had made thereof Whereupon having continued silent a little while as it were to recollect himself and to consider what he had to say to me Volusius said he I heartily forgive you the mischief you have done me and am satisfied with the death of this persidious subject whom the gods by a miraculous conduct of their justice had reserved to perish by my hands when I least expected it I refuse not the proffer you make me to give an account of my innocence to Cleopatra and Marcellus I am confident they have already entertained some apprehensions thereof and it will be your businesse to rid them of all those which may be yet remaining in them of the infidelity wherewith I have been charged I imagine not but that my justification is of as great concernment to me as the recovery of my kingdom I have made a shift to live without a Kingdom assured of the affections of Cleopatra but I would not be burthened with the keeping of a Kingdom when I have been abhorred by Cleopatra I shall entreat you to tell both the Princesse and Marcellus that I had deserved they should have made a stricter inquisition into my crime and consequently been more concerned in my vindication before they had condemned me with so much severity and that they should both of them have debated the businesse a little on my behalf against apparences uncertain enough How do I acknowledge my self obliged to the gods that they have ordered things so as that before my death I may let them know I have not been perfidious either to my Mistresse or my Friend and that since I have recovered my self from their reproaches by truth they shall never hear of those which I might make to them meerly out of the love and respect which I shall have for them to the very last breath Onely you will be pleased to entreat the Princesse to remember her self that notwithstanding my innocence notwithstanding my justification I am no longer worthy to serve her and that though I might hope the recovery of her affections yet durst I not presume to desire they should be cast away on a wretch persecuted by heaven and a crosse fortune and one who hath not all over the earth any place he may call his own Further that time hath been I might through the friendship and assistance of Caesar have hoped to be restored to a condition not much different from that of my Ancestors that after I had lost Caesars friendship I had recovered a Kingdom wherein she should have reigned had the gods and my cruel destiny been so pleased But that now being dispossessed of all all assistance all protection and all hope it is not fit I should lift up my eies on a Princesse whom the greatest Kings upon earth would think it a glory to serve nor indeed so much as wish my self beloved by her since she cannot affect me but upon a condition of her own unhappinesse by involving her self in the miserable destiny of the most unfortunate of mankind That all I have to do now is to dy so to put a worthy Period to this Tragedy and that I shall be able to do either by laying violent hands on my self after the example of the King my father or by Caesars wrath whereto I shall expose my self without the least fear after I have offered up to my ill fortune a victime which I am obliged to sacrifice to her That after that action whatever may be the event of it I shall endeavour to forbear disturbing the enjoyments of a person that is a thousand times dearer to me then the life which I bestow to further them and lastly that I make it my earnest suit to the gods that they never be interrupted by the memory of a wretch whose remembrance might haply occasion some disturbance in the felicities I wish her With those words reaching forth his hand to me he bad me farewell and having commanded his Squire to help me up on horseback again to come for Alexandria in order to the cure of my wounds he took another way and left me much more troubled at his discourse and the action of it then I was at the danger and pain of my wounds Being gotten on horse-back again by the assistance of his Squire I took my way towards this City much about the setting of the Sun and came into it before it was quite dark so weakened that I was hardly able to stand As to what hath passed since I shall not trouble you I was kindly entertained by Cornelius who was my ancient friend and seemed to be very much troubled at my misfortune but it was not in his power to hinder me out of any consideration of health which he pressed very much from leaving my bed assoon as ever I understood Madam I might have accesse to you to acquit my self of the charge I had taken upon me and to clear to you and Prince Marcellus the innocency of a Prince who was never guilty of any thing but by the artifices of Tiberius and our combination and who cannot justly bâ— charged with any thing either as to his Mistresse or his Friend but is the most constant and most generous of all men living I acknowledge the goodnesse of the gods in the favour they have done me to acquaint you with this truth before I dy and humbly beg it of them that this discovery which proceeding from a real repentance I now make to you may in some measure be thought a reparation of my crime It hath produced effects too too important and too too deplorable for me to hope any pardon from you though I have obtained it from him who hath been the greatest sufferer thereby and whom I had offended most but I fear me I have received my punishment from those that were my co-agents in it and that I shall not long survive the discovery of an action which must needs make me abominable in the sight of all the World Thus did Volusius put a Period to his discourse and though that towards the end of it he observed in the countenances of Cleopatra and Marcellus more compassion and grief then resentment or indignation against him yet were it that he could not any longer endure the presence of persons whom he had so highly injured or that his wounds troubled him he would not make any longer stay in the chamber and with some difficulty making a shift to rise off the chair he was sate in after he had by a gesture full of humility and the expressions of his grief taken his leave of the Prince and Princesse he passed into the outer-room where he found the persons which Cornelius had left there to bring him back to his lodgings It were no easie matter to represent what posture Marcellus and Cleopatra were in upon this relation of Volusius They
that he needed not envy the fortunes of any Roman whatsoever and though he had not those Kingdoms at his disposal which had been at his Fathers yet did he keep up our house in the greatest lustre it ever was in before the death of Julius Caesar and before Anthony and Augustus made themselves Masters of the Empire He was elder then Alexander and my self by seaven or eight years insomuch that within a short time after our misfortune and while we were yet brought up as children by Octavia he was numbred among the young Princes that pretended to employments and opportunities of acquiring fame He was certainly born to all the noblest and greatest endowments and though he were not so fair as Alexander yet had he a high and majestick look was of a proper stature and wanted not any of those advantages either of body or mind which could rationally be wished in him With this his inclinations were absolutely noble he was wholly disposed to the acquisition of vertue and an earnest suitor to those opportunities which lead a man to glory We cannot indeed complain but that he expressed as great affection towards us as we could expect from a Brother and him a vertuous one but in regard we were of several venter's lived in several houses nay that ours was in some sort divided between him and us and that even among the kindred of Fulvia there was no small aversion for the name of Cleopatra certain it is that our familiarity was so much the lesse with him and that he concerned himself lesse in our Affairs then if our family had not been disunited which is the reason that you have had so little mention made of him in the first beginnings of the life of Alexander and mine Whence yet I would not have it thought as I told you that we can reproach Julius Antonius with any backwardnesse to do all the civilities and good offices we could expect from his friendship but that when any great emergencies interven'd he was no longer among us and it is upon that account that I have been destitute of his assistances in all those occasions which the love of Coriolanus hath furnished me with to make use of them of which I have already made you a relation You have I question not understood from Alexander as also from me all the particularities of our younger years but to give you an account of Julius Antonius I am to tell you that after he had attained perfection in all those exercises that are proper to persons of his birth he was no sooner arrived to an age fit to bear arms but he sought out the wars with much earnestnesse and engaging himself in the armies of Dalmatia Pannonia as also that which Marcus Crassus conducted against the Basternae and having gone through all employments and charges suitable to his age with all the good successe imaginable he acquired a noble fame and gave the World ground to conceave as glorious hopes of him as of any other whatsoever Being after several years spent in travel returned to Rome he setled there and was honoured by all nay wanted not from Caesar himself more then ordinary expressions of esteem and affection He was at first established at the Court among persons of the highest rank so far that onely Marcellus and the children of Livia particularly favoured by Caesar seemed by reason of the advantage of their fortune to aim at higher pretences His expence was noble and magnificent his disposition inclined to do civilities and to oblige and his whole deportment such as all the World approved and were satisfied with Accordingly he soon got him a great number of friends and those onely excepted whom the divisions of Rome and the distractions of the Triumvirate had made irreconcileable enemies to our house there were very few of the Roman Nobility who had not a particular esteem for him and courted not his friendship When he went to Augustus's Palace he was attended by a gallant retinue of young Gentlemen In all publick shews and all Assemblies that met either at the Empresses or at the young Princesse Julia's he alwayes had the general acclamations and it was already the ordinary talk in Rome that if Fortune were any thing favourable to him he would raise the house of Anthony to the height of lustre it had been in some few years before But it was not the pleasure of the gods he should continue long in that condition and the quiet that he himself lost after a very strange manner proved the occasion of our losing of him to our no small grief Now Sister shall you hear something which you will haply be astonished at as to the parallel you will find there is between the fate of Alexander and that of Antonius whence you will haply imagine that Fortune treating them as Brothers would needs have some conformity between their adventures Among those exercises of the body he was most addicted to Antonius was the greatest lover of hunting and used it very often To that end being gone a dayes journy from Rome on the Tusculum side where the Country is very pleasant and very fit for that kind of divertisement he passed away certain dayes there with abundance of satisfaction The last of those he intended to bestow on that exercise being as he was hunting a Stagge forced to crosse certain woods in the pursuit he came into a very pleasant valley where putting on his Horse very negligently down a little descent and along the slippery grasse he stumbled but so of a sudden that he could not get his feet out of the stirrops nor prevent the horse from falling upon him so violently that having knocked his head against the root of a tree he was not onely sense-lesse for the time but receaved also a very considerable wound A further misfortune was that none of his fellow-huntsmen being mounted comparably to him or having taken other wayes there was not any one of his people neer him to afford him any assistance in that condition so that he lay groveling on the ground senselesse loosing bloud and being much in need of help when certain persons that passed by in a Chariot in a way not far off drew neerer and came out of the Chariot to relieve him They were in number three and they women without any man with them but he that drove the Chariot and certain slaves that followed it She of the women that seemed to be of the greatest quality perceaving my Brother to be in the sad condition I told you of was extreamly troubled for him and concluding otherwise by his countenance and the sumptuousnesse of his cloaths though he had onely a riding-suit on that he was of no mean condition she seemed very much inclined to do him all the good she could She first looked on the wound in his head which she found not to be very dangerous yet did she not think it amisse to put some linnen to it which
have me by any means to exasperate her and was afraid of the dangers it was yet in her power to bring us into But she in the mean time was not satisfied with my simple civilities and expected I should engage my heart in a love proportionable to hâ—rs towards me I on the contrary avoided all the occasions of saying any thing to her which might displease her though I said not ought that the might be mistaken in or on which she might ground any thing of affection But one day after she had pressed me very much to resolve on something yet in a way full of sweetnesse and modesty I thought fit to discover my thoughts more particularly then I had done any time before Looking on her therefore in the most obliging manner I could Fairest Eurinoe said I to her I have this unhapiness for one among many others that are my perpetual attendants that I cannot convince you of the sincerity of my intentions and the real acknowledgments I have for all the great demonstrations you honour me with of your affection This misfortune happens to me for that I really have too great an esteem for you to make protestations to you beyond what I am able to make good but since you will needs oblige me to open my heart to you with that freedom which I owe a person to whom I owe my life and of whom I have received such extraordinary expressions of affection I must tel you fairest Eurinoe that since you are acquainted with my name and person it is not to be doubted but you have had some account of my life and consequently know how far I am at liberty to dispose of my affections There are few persons in Aethiopia but know it and therefore without obliging me to discover my self any farther be pleased to reflect on what I can and what I ought to do and assure your self that I shall be infinitely desirous to afford you all the expressions of my resentments that I possibly can Eurinoe seemed to be a little dashed at this discourse and it was some time ere she could make any answer thereto but at last having sufficiently recollected her self I have indeed with all the Kingdom said she to me heard of the love you have for the Queen the great actions you have done for her service the intentions which the late King had to bestow her on you and the hopes you may upon just grounds have conceived that you may obtain her and I am not so far blinded by my passion but that I am sufficiently sensible of the disparity there is as well in regard of nature as fortune between Candace and Eurinoe upon the account both of quality and beauty nor is my extravagance come to that height as that I would dispute with Queen Candace the possession of a heart to which she hath any pretentions But my Lord you are withal not ignorant how that on that side all your hopes are blasted that Candace hath now lost both her Kingdom and her liberty and that all the good intentions she may have for you stand you in no stead She hath haply bestowed her self on Tiribasus who is master of her person as well as of her dominions and the inclinations she hath had for you if they have not already will no doubt give way to that cruel necessity which allows her not the liberty to make choice of a husband These words wherein I perceived there was abundance of probality and truth came very neer my heart and not being able to conceal it from Eurinoe The news you tell me is very doleful said I to her and yet you tell me nothing but what I knew before I have been acquainted with the usurpation of Tiribasus and the captivity of Candace but I know withal that the gods are just and omnipotent and that by a turning-cast of their power and justice they may overturne Tiribasus and raise Candace into the Throne There have been seen among men revolutions as strange as that and we must not quit hope till the utmost extremities of misfortune But such a hope as that replyed Eurinoe cannot be well grounded and as it is not impossible but you might alone counterballance and haply overturn the fortune of Tiribasus if you had had sufficient forces to oppose him for you are not ignorant that there is not any body left which he needs fear or that can with any probability prevent his establishment in Ethiopia I can do it yet my self said I to her not able to disguise my thoughts what necessity soever there were I should do it I may yet haply thwart that fortune which you think so well established and put him to as great a hazard upon the usurped throne he is in as he was in when he had the command of a hundred thousand men Ah my Lord replies Eurinoe trust not too much to that unfortunate presumption Your courage is sufficiently known but Fortune is not your friend and your life is dearer to me then that I can without trembling reflect on the danger you must expose your self to Your fear said I smiling is haply for Tiribasus as knowing well that a miserable person that is carelesse of his own life may endanger those of the most powerful and most fortunate Cleomedon said she to me you do not I hope any way doubt but that your life is much dearer to me then that of Tiribasus since I value it above my own I shall not take the pains to perswade you any further as to that point but shall onely adde thus much that how far soever my brothers have been wedded to his interest whether upon the account of fortune or some allyance that was between our houses and though Teramenes whom when living I loved beyond my self and whom dead as he is I should have loved to tâ—e last minute of my life had it not been for the fatal sight of Cleomedon was very much in his esteem I could never for my own part approve his proceedings nor conceive any respects for an ujust man and an usurper She would have said more had it not been for Eteocles coming into the room before whom she would not insist any longer on that subject In the mean time my greatest care was to hasten my recovery being upon thorns to fasten on some occasion to sacrifice the remainders of my life with some advantage to the service of my fairest Queen But the more I recovered my health the more did Eurinoe's diminish insomuch that at last she was brought so low by that unfortunate passion that I could do no lesse then pitty her if I may use that term with modesty and was extreamly troubled that I could do nothing to comfort her I was at last grown so strong that I durst venture out of my chamber and to go into a fair garden where she would needs have me to walk with her I did it though with much difficulty she being forced to help me ever
Philadelph should follow them though it was no small torment to them to be out of their Mistresses presence so much as one minute and indeed they were not over-earnest to do it at that time knowing well that by reason of the difference of sex they had not the same freedome with the others to visit Ladies before they were dressed Besides Philadelph was a little troubled by what he had understood of the arrivall of Tigranes and the attempt he had made to carry away Elisa And being withall a kinsman and friend to the King of the Medes and that it was by his assistance and that of Archelaus King of Cappadocia that Tigranes had recovered his Kingdome he knew not well how he should behave himself towards Elisa for whom he had already conceived abundance of respect and for whom Arsinoe whose commands he was wholly to be guided by had a very great affection At last he resolved not to do any thing that Arsinoe might take amisse at his hands or prejudice the respect he had for Elisa but he thought he might safely go and see Tygranes having understood that he was in Alexandria and thereupon taking his leave of Ariobarzanes for some time he went to give him a visit And yet before he was gotten out of doores he called to mind the ancient enmity that was between the King of the Medes and the house of Armenia though there had been a peace concluded between those two Crownes by the interest and Authority of Augustus And accordingly fearing that Ariobarzanes was still wedded to the quarrell wherein his house had been engaged and consequently an enemy to Tygranes he entreated him for his sake to moderate the resentments there might be yet remaining in him as to that affaire and to do that Prince no ill office if he did not by some deportment of his oblige him thereto Ariobarzanes who was a person of an excellent good nature promised Philadelph to be guided in all things by him and seeing himself deprived of all company by his departure he went to see Agrippa whom he extreamly honoured for his vertue and whose friendship he was very desirous to preserve that he might make use of it either upon his own account or Philadelphs against the implacable humour of Artaxus whom he stood much in fear of Tygranes had passed away the night in such fits of madnesse and exasperation as had hardly allowed him the rest of some few minutes and brought him into an humour which made him unfit company for all in a manner Philadelph onely excepted But assoon as he cast his eies on that Prince whom he had infinite love for and whom he was obliged to for the recovery of his kingdome all his melancholy and extravagant resentments vanished to make way for that excesse of joy which filled him at a sight so little expected He found it some difficulty to imagine to himself that it was really Philadelph but when the Prince had by his words and caresses confirmed what his eies durst not easily decide the satisfaction it was to him proved an excellent remedy to alleviate his discontents and suffering himself to be absolutely possessed thereby his behaviour towards the Prince was such as could not proceed but from a violent and cordiall affection After the first complements ordinary upon the occasion of such an interview were past Tygranes asked Philadelph what strange adventure had brought him to Alexandria and Philadelph having made the same demand to the other they reciprocally satisfied one the other and entertained one another with an account of their last adventures by means whereof they were come to Alexandria Tigranes seemed to be very glad at the fortunate successe of Philadelphs Love though he could not but much wonder that that fair Delia of whom he had heard such strange things while they were in the wars together was the same Arsinoe that was reported to be dead long before with her Brother Ariobarzanes and Sister to Artaxus their in econcileable enemy Philadelph told him that he had been no lesse astonished at it himself and therefore doubted not but that the indeprecability of Artaxus and that of the King his own Father might yet put a many rubbs in their way but all notwithstanding he thought himself happy in having consecrated his life to the most amiable and most vertuous Princesse upon earth and that he expected no lesse from the friendship of Ariobarzanes and the authority of Caesar then that all things should be so carried that both parties should comply to contribute to their good Fortune After they had had some discourse of the affaires of Philadelph they spoke of those of Tigranes and after that that violent King had with a great deale of fury and fiercenesse disburthened himself of part of that which lay so heavy on his heart and made thousands of complaints against Elisa and disgorged thousands of menaces against Artaban and all those that were of his party Philadelph took occasion to reassume the discourse with abundance of mildnesse in these termes You do not doubt said he to Tigranes but that I am your Friend and as deeply engaged in your interests as any Prince whatsoever either of your allies or neighbours The expressions I have received thereof are but too many too great and too important replied Tigranes not to raise in me a confidence of your Friendship Since you are so much of that belief replies Philadelph you will give me leave to tell you that you your self contribute most of any to your own misfortunes and that the same Elisa for whose sake you have once already lost your kingdome may prove the occasion of greater inconveniences to you I must needs acknowledge the world affords not any thing comparable to her beauty not any thing greater than the rank she is in among the Princesses of the earth and that the Crown of the Parthians whereof she is yet presumed to be the lawfull heir is next to the Roman Empire the greatest Monarchy in the world But on the other side yo are to consider that this Elisa shunns you hates you preferrs before you a person whose revenues consist in his sword and defies the indignation of her Father and her King meerly to satisfie the aversion she hath for you so that you may well infer that there is little likelihood to reduce that which neither paternal autority nor the hazards she hath hitherto been exposed to have ineffectually attempted And therefore if you will take my advice you will make this advantage of the disentertainment of your addresses to banish out of year heart a person that slights you and one that though she were within your power will never have any affection for you while she lives and consequently must needs make you by reason of the continuall hostility which you must ever expect to struggle with in your own house the most unfortunate Prince upon earth On the other side I have heard of some little engagement you were
of the chains of the Pirates as she had related to Philadelph two daies before These last obligations put upon them by Britomarus were of such consequence that in a mind such as was that of Arsinoe they could have produced no lesse then an acknowledgment equal thereto and when that in the person of that great Artaban whom she looked on as a man whose sword decided the fates of Empires she found that of Britomarus to whom she ought her honour and her brothers liberty shâ— could not avoid being seized by a violent surprise yet such withal 〈◊〉 was delightful and brought with it no less satisfaction then astonishment Nor indeed either could she or would she dissemble it and thereupon coming up to him with such a confidence as she might have expressed towards a most affectionate brother What Britomarus said she to him are you then that great Artaban whose fame fills the universe and who under that illustrious name of Artaban are pleased to conceal from us that of Britomarus to whom I stand engaged for my own honour and my Brothers life The other three Princesses could not but wonder very much at this discourse of Arsinoe but indeed Artaban could do no lesse himself as considering with himself not without astonishment how Fortune in so smal a space of time should bring together out of several Kingdoms that lay at a great distance one from another the onely three persons for whom he ever had conceived affection The presence of Elisa as things then stood put him into some little disorder and yet not willing to be thought insensible of the civility he had received from Arsinoe for whom he had infinite respects after he had saluted her with as much submission as he could have done even when his affections were most violent for her Madam said he to her the same fortune that makes Delia's and Arsinoe's may also make Artaban's and Britomarus's and under both these names I continue towards the Princesse Arsinoe a respect which nothing shall ever be able to make me forget Elisa during this discourse being gotten close to Arsinoe What Madam said she to her it seems you are acquainted with Artaban Since Britomarus is the same with Artaban replies Arsinoe I dare tell you Madam that I knew him before you and shal further let you know that I have much reason to be acquainted with him since that not to mention the addresses he sometime made to me in my own Country even while he was yet very young he hath within a small time by his admirable valour and with the hazard of his life preserved that which amongst us is counted most precious and delivered my brother out of the hands of the Pirates What Sister cries out Olympia is it than to the great Artaban that we are obliged for the safety of Ariobarzanes It is so Sister replies Arsinoe t is to him that we are obliged for him and I believe let him go which way he will he shall every where meet with persons engaged to his fortunate valour If your considerations are limited by the engagements you have to my valour replied Artaban you may reflect onely on services which you might justly have expected from all those persons whom fortune had favoured with the same opportunities to do them but if you call to mind that over-confidence as you thought it which you punished with so much severity and disdain while I continued in Armenia you will haply conceive your self more obliged to my crime then my services and that I had presented you with a thing at that time which might have made a greater impression in your memory then that little relief for which you are endebted onely to my sword These words made Arsinoe blush and while she was considering what answer she should make Candace not well affording her the the time to do it Ah Madam said she to her might it please the gods that the wish I made some minutes since may be accomplished and that it were true that Britomarus were guilty of the same infidelity towards you which you so much approved or at least thought so excusable by reason of the noble cause thereof For matter of infidelity replies Artaban I am not guilty of any towards the fair Arsinoe for she never accepted of my fidelity nor entertained the respect I had for her with any obligation But certain it is Madam that when I left you I brought away this young heart which was upon my first inclinations grown confident enough and laid it at the feet of Arsinoe and that without all question I had spent my whole life in that engagement if the rigour of this Princesse and the pleasure of my destiny reserving me for another vassaâ—age had not involved me in other chains for which I should willingly forsake with all it contains that is most excellent the Empire of the whole World But who can be confident saies Elisa to him not with too much earnestnesse that these last chains will not be broken as the former were and what â—eauty in the world can be secured against your inconstancy since that of these two fair Priecesses hath not been able to fix it I am very confident replies Artaban that she whose vassal I now particularly professe my self to be is not in any fear I should break the chains I am in and am far from thinking my self so happy as to put her into any fear which might raise me to a degree of felicity whereto I am not yet arrived Might it please the gods I were on those terms with her for I should find it no hard matter to 〈◊〉 her that I conceive my slavery too too glorious for me to imagine there is any need of fidelity to continue in it These few words he thought sufficient as to that point and Elisa was satisfied therewith not insisting upon any further matter of justification to be convinced of a fidelity which she had experienced in so many extraordinary demonstrations Upon that account was it that she fell upon some other discourse and so asked Artaban by what miraculous means he had escaped out of the sea into which she had seen him cast himself and being satisfied for that day she could not hope to have any private discourse with him she entreated him to relate before those Princesses by what strange waies he had escaped and in what manner he had spent his life since their unexpected separation Artaban was preparing himself to obey her commands conceiving as she did that he must needs expect till some other more favourable opportunity to enter into private discourse with her when there come into the room Agrippa Philadelph Ariobarzanes Ovid and some others who had dined that day with Agrippa Arioborzanes and Philadelph how impatient soever they might be to see their beloved Princesses from whom after so cruel an absence they could hardly bear with one that took up onely some few minutes found that desire when they were come to
be concealed from all the World and though I must introduce into my discourse persons whose power is much to be feared yet shall I not forbear since that within a few daies I shall either be in a condition not to fear it or if the gods think good to continue my life I am more willing to see it exposed to some danger by my confession then be perpetually persecuted with remorses which make it much more insupportable to me Be pleased to afford me your attention to the discourse I have to make to you and it is my earnest prayer to the gods that it may in some measure repair the mischief I have done and restore that happinesse and fortune which I have unfortunately disturbed To this effect was the discourse of Volusius and perceiving that instead of making any answer Cleopatra and Marcellus hearkened very attentively to him he reâ—ssumed the discourse in these terms THE HISTORY OF VOLUSIUS WE are satisfied by experience that both the remembrance of good turns and that of injuries have a different operation according to the different character of those souls where they are entertained and that as there are some minds wherein offences make but a very light impression much lighter then that which good offices might make in them so on the other side there are some in whom the greatest benefits cannot smother the least injuries or to say better who not much sensible of obligations laid upon them have neverthelesse eternal resentments for injuries That I have been worsted and disgraced by Prince Coriolanus I must attribute it meerly to his valour and my own unhappinesse and that I was nobly treated by him it was the effect of his pure generosity and yet the impression of the injury filled my soul in such manner that it leaves not any place for that which the generous entertainment should have had there and opposed the resentment it should have conceived thereof that so I might be the more absolutely hurried into contrary resolutions I doubt not Madam but you have heard how that having been several times defeated in the persons of my Lieutenants I was at last overthrown in my own and through the valour of the son of Juba having lost a battel which in all probability I should have gained I was by the same valour cast to the ground and taken prisoner You have also further understood how that after some daies imprisonment such as was sweetned by all the kind entertainments which I could have received from a brother or the best friend I had the same Prince whom by all manner of injuries I had obliged to treat me with cruelty forgetting all out of an admirable generosity and comforting me in my disgrace with the most obliging words could fall from man gave me my liberty without any condition loaded me with presents of great value and furnished me with ships and men to bring me to Rome or any other place where I would my self It might in all probability be expected I should have been sensible of this treatment as much as I had been of my misfortune but having through my disgrace besides the fame I might have acquired in my former years lost the government of two great Kingdoms a very high fortune for a private man and the hope of finding again among the Romans an establishment comparable to that I had lost the grief I conceived thereat had so cankered my soul that I was not able to entertain those expressions of the goodnesse and clemency of the King of Mauritania with the least discovery of gratitude However I pretended to be extreamly sensible thereof as I ought to have been of a favour I should not have expected and I received with my liberty the other effects of the magnificence of that Prince with those demonstrations which might well perswade him that I was not insensible thereof I went a-board with a soul half burst with grief and I carried with me into the sea an affliction grown so violent through the change of my fortune that there was nothing able to afford me any satisfaction And yet I am apt to imagine that my grief would have been satisfied in being onely a torment to my self without producing any effects prejudicial to the fortune of my Conquerour if something of chance and the sollicitations of other persons had not furnished me witlâ— the occasions to do it and that at a time wherein my sufferings were not aggravated by any design of revenge The third day after my departure I was overtaken by a Vessel that came after me from Mauritania and he that was Commander of it being come aboard mine to give me a visit was known to me to be a person of very great quality among the Moors named Theocles whose Father had had under King Juba the father of Coriolanus the greatest places in the Kingdom and the governments of greatest importance But it happening upon the death of King Juba that Theocles revolted to the Romans and sided very particularly with me as having not the least remainder of love for the royal bloud and that further he had expected till the issue of the war without declaring himself for his Prince as the greatest part of the Moors had done young Juba coming to the Throne had accordingly slighted him though he had not any way disobliged him nor taken away any thing he was possessed of and in the distribution of the Governments and charges which he bestowed on those whom he thought most worthy and had expressed most affection towards him he conceived himself not at all engaged to prefer Theocles whose pretensions were great suitably to his quality and the high rank his Father had lived in before him Theocles thinking himself hardly dealt with and taking it very impatiently that his soveraigne should prefer other persons before him such indeed as were inferiour to him in birth but much more considerable than he by their services and their fidelity to their Prince would needs leave Mauritania and lurk among the enemies of his King and bring over with him among the Romanes his resentments and desires of revenge So that having taken ship the same day that I departed the third after he comes up to me and coming out of his own vessell into mine he gave me a visit making the greatest expressions he could of the affection he had for me Now this man being he that of all the Moores I had held the greatest correspondence with and his discontents being not unknowne to me I was extreamly glad to meet with him and having understood from him that the resentments he had against his Prince were the occasion why he left the Country to follow me and to go along with me to Rome this consonancy of thoughts made me the more confident of him and raised in me a certain affection for him and engaged me to promise him all the friend-and assistance amongst the Romanes that I could possibly help him to Thus resolved we continued
and quality might well suit with an Embassie to him as a person commissionated to that purpose To that effect Thoocles in an equipage conformable to that employment wherein there shal be nothing awanting as to matter of expence may addresse himself to Caesar with credentiall Letters under the great seale of Mauritania which it will not be hard to find at Rome among those of diverse other Kingdomes that have been brought thither after their reduction into Romane Provinces and propose unto him in the name of his King That if with the Peace which he should be desirous to have with him he would also bestow on him the Princesse Julia in marriage he would submit to him as all other tributary Kings did and would take his Kingdomes as dependent of the Empire This proposition must be made withall the solemnities requisite to so great an Embasse and in regard we are at a great distance from Mauritania so that there is not any commerce between us and that Country and that as things stand at the present there 's little hope we shall have any it is impossible we should be discovered And though it may be thought somewhat unlikely there should be so sudden a change and so beyond all expectation in the affections of Coriolanus yet there happens daily things no lesse strange which notwithstanding their distance from probability are yet neighbours to truth and there wil be those whom it will not be hard to perswade that his 〈◊〉 both made him forget his Love and that in the condition he is now arrived to desirous of a rest he never yet met with he could no way better effect it than by making a peace and courting the alliance of Caesar of whom he might expect the former upon the conditions proposed though he took him not into the latter And we shall find it a matter of so much the lesse difficulty to make Cleopatra sensible of his insidelity for that I have it from very good hands that since his departure she hath not heard any thing from him and that she hath already conceived no small jealousie of what we would perswade her to By this intrigue I shall not onely turne that love which Cleopatra hath for Coriolanus into a higher degree of aversion for him which is the onely rub that lies in my way to happinesse but I shall also dissolve that Friendship which Marcellus hath for him by making him believe that Coriolanus addressing himself to Julia whom he loves and looks on as designed for him is no lesse perfidious to him then to Cleopatra And by that means I shall deprive our enemy of a friend whose interest with Caesar hath hitherto been the greatest obstacle I have had to struggle with and instead of those supplies which he secretly receives from him and the good offices he daily does him with Cleopatra he will have the greatest indignation and most irreconcileable hatred that can be against him So that to arrive to the felicity I aim at and to make my revenge the more compleat I shall not be opposed either by the love of Cleopatra or the friendship of Marcellus which will be both destroyed by an artifice that cannot be discovered in many years I hearkned with a great deal of patience to this discourse of Tiberius and found in it many things not easily digestible as such as must needs bring us into many inconveniences but I overcame the greatest part of the difficulties I should meet with by the great desire I had to purchase his friendship and protection Whereupon assuming the discourse when he had given over speaking My Lord said I to him though your design seems to carry in it much danger and requires no small daringnesse in those that are employed in it yet all must be hazarded to serve you and we shall not be discouraged by any considerations whatsoever from effecting your satisfaction But I shall take the boldnesse to propose it to you whether it were not fitter to demand some other person rather then Julia so not to draw on you the displeasure and interest of Marcellus whom we must visibly engage against us by demanding of Caesar a person whom he is in love with and that is designed for him By this demand replies Tiberius we break the friendship that is between Marcellus and Coriolanus which it concerns me most of any thing to do But we do not thereby any way injure Murcellus and you do not run the hazard of encurring his displeasure though you may well be assured that your party shall not be weaker then his after the union of our interests and considering what you may expect from our house for as it is not hard for you to imagine there is little likelihood that this personated Embassy of Theocles from Coriolanus should any way prejudice Marcellus or that Caesar should prefer the allyance of that African his enemy before that of his Nephew whom he loves no lesse then if he were his own son and designes to be his successor No doubt all he will do will be to laugh at the extravagance of Juba's demand but though the effect it will have upon him will signifie nothing in Cleopatra and Marcellus it will do all that I expect it should so that I am in some hopes to enjoy Cleopatra long before the truth be discovered And if ever it should come to light I promise you that through the power of the Empresse who will be absolutely for us we shall reconcile all it being to be presumed that the Emperour will not be much displeased at an artifice which hath no design in it but that of assuring me of the enjoyment of Cleopatra and is not prejudicial to any but his greatest enemy To these Tiberius added a many other reasons to encourage me to engage in his design so that there needed not much to enflame the disposition I was already in to serve him into a resolution to do any thing he would have me and by his own natural eloquence and the inclination I had of my self to be perswaded he took off all the difficulties I could make to my self when he first made his proposition to me After I had reiterated the protestation I had made to him we called Theocles to whom Tiberius repeated all those things he had said to me and without any difficulty brought him to a resolution to undertake any thing which he the sooner was perswaded to as well by reason he was naturally mischievous and revengefull but withal very indiscreet and inconsiderate as by the hopes he was put into by Tiberius of great fortunes and assistances among the Romans At last he resolved to endeavour any thing should be proposed to him and made no difficulty to personate the Ambassadour of his King and to take all his instructions from Tiberius We stayed together all that day and the best part of the night to take all the order requisite in our design and when we had setled all
drawn into but by my advice and encouragement Though I might well imagine that Theocles fell not upon that discourse but with a designe to quarrell with me and find a pretence without infamy to Tiberius to put in execution what they had basely plotted against me yet did I not reflect on it soon enough and accordingly could not forbear telling him that there was a vast difference between an action wherein we had been jointly engaged though truely considered it were very horrid and the designe to murther a King in his own Kingdome and that there was the greater difference between those two actions in regard of us by as much as that I was a Romane and he a Subject to Coriolanus This barbarous wretch who what answer soever I had made would have found the pretence he was so desirous of pretended to be transported with indignation at this discourse drew his sword and ran at me with all the fury he could I should have been but little frightned at his action if all those that were about him had not done the like and with the same labour satisfied me that Tiberius had not bestowed that guard on me but to give me my death Of my two men the more affectionate lost his life at my feet and the other frightned saved himself by getting into the wood so that I was forced to stand alone to the fury of those cruell Butchers who came about me and gave me two great wounds No question but a thousand more had followed to dispatch me out of this world and I saw it was to no purpose to think to lengthen my life by a fruitlesse resistance when it pleased Fortune to direct into that part of the wood a man armed all over mounted on a very stately horse and attended onely by an Esquire He made a little halt to see what was done and perceiving he had but little time to loose if he would save my life after he had anticipated his coming by a great outcry and in few words reproached my enemies with basenesse and cowardice he ran in among them with a fury to which nothing can be compared and having with the shock of his horse overthrown the first he met within his way he set upon the rest with such eagernesse as shewed he was nothing daunted at their number And whereas they as well as I had no other armes then their swords he spent very few blowes which either carried not death along with them or made those they met with uncapable of fighting any longer Theocles astonished at this miraculous relief and perceiving there was no possibility to make an end of me till he had rid his hands of the stranger endeavoured with the assistance of his men to dispatch him But as it happened he ran upon his own death for that valiant man having received upon his buckler the blowes he made at him ran him clear through the body and so he fell down to the ground and immediately breathed his last His companions were but weak in their endeavours to revenge his fall and finding themselves reduced to one halfe of the number they made at first and that by the same hand they were quite discouraged and placed all their safety in their flight Finding my self rescued in that manner from those unmercifull enemies though very much weakened by the two wounds I had received I made a shift to come nearer my deliverer to give him thankes for his assistance and it happened at the same time that he feeling himself very much heated either by reason of the sultrinesse of the season or the action he had been in put up the visour of his head-piece to take in a little fresh aire I had hardly fastened my eies on his countenance but I was in a manner dazzled by the lustre and goodlinesse of it and thereupon looking on him a little more earnestly I knew him to be that person to whom I had been so cruelly perfidious the valiant King of Mauritania It is impossible I should represent to you the confusion I was in to find my self obliged for my life to a Prince whom I had so basely abused and to see that Fortune should after so strange a manner direct to my relief that person from whom of all men I had least reason to expect it An adventure so unexpected could not but tie up my tongue for a while and stifling the discourse I intended to disburthen my self of by way of acknowledgement for the deliverance I was obliged to him for I stood still before him mute immoveable and in the posture of a man whom an excesse of remorse had deprived of all confidence And it was certainly from my remorse rather than any fear that this proceeded as not knowing whether the injury I had done him was come to his knowledge but if I was astonished to see him he was no lesse to meet with me and calling me to mind by the idaea's he had still in his memory of my countenance and haply confirmed by the astonishment he observed in it he stood still as well as my self like one lost in suspence and irresolution At last the passion which produced that effect in him being much different from that which had put me into so great disturbance he soon recovered himself and having viewed me with much more earnestnesse then before Are not you Volusius said he to me sometime Praetor of Mauritania I am the very same Volusius answered I who am now obliged to you twice for this wretched life as having once received it with my liberty as a demonstration of your generosity and being obliged to you for it now by the relief I have received from you when I was reduced to the last extremities You might have added to that said he that you are the same Volusius who being once before obliged to me for your life and liberty have neverthelesse made me the most unfortunate man in the world and by your perfidiousnesse have occasioned me the losse of Cleopatra's affection my kingdome and whatever should make me in love with life This reproach put me to such a losse that I knew not what answer to make whereupon casting my eies on the ground with an action expressing the greatnesse of my confusion I satisfied the Prince that I had nothing by way of justification to say for my self When he had looked on me for some time in that posture What injury soever I may have received from you said he to me it troubles me not that I have been the occasion that you are yet alive but certainly 't is a visible example of Heavens justice to reserve the revenge of your perfidiousnesse to me who have been most injured thereby Reassume the confidence which the conscience of your crime seems to have deprived you of and since I have seen you defend your life with courage enough against diverse men at the same time muster up all you have to defend it against one man alone and