villaine vnto Tharsia tel me art thou yet a virgin She answered I am and shalbe as long as God will suffer me How then saide he hast thou gotten all this mony She answered with teares falling downe vpon her knées I haue declared mine estate humbly requesting all men to take compassion on my virginitie And nowe likewise falling then downe at his féete also take pitty on mee good friend which am a poore captiue and the daughter of a king and doe not defile me The villaine answered Our master the bawd is very couetous and gréedie of money and therefore I sée no meanes for thée to continue a virgin Whereunto Tharsia replied I am skilful in the liberall sciences and well exercised in all studies and no man singeth or playeth on instruments better than I wherefore bring mee into the market place of the citie that men may heare my cunning Or let the people propound any maner of questions and I will resolue them and I doubt not but by this practise I shall get store of money daily When the villaine heard this deuise and bewailed the maidens mishappe he willingly gaue consent thereto and brake with the bawd his master touching that matter who hearing of her skill and hoping for the gaine was easily perswaded Now when she was brought into the market place all the people came thronging to sée and heare so learned a virgin before whom shée vttered her cunning in musicke and her eloquence in speaking and aunswered manifestly vnto all such questions as were propounded vnto her with such perspicuitie that all confessed themselues fully satisfied and shée wonne great fame thereby and gained great summes of money But as for Prince Athanagoras he had euermore a speciall regard in the preseruation of her virginitie none otherwise than if she had béen his owne daughter and rewarded the villaine very liberally for his diligent care ouer her CHAP. XV. How Apollonius comming to Tharsus and not finding his daughter lamented her supposed death and taking shippe againe was driuen by a tempest to Machilenta where Tharsia was REturne we now againe vnto Prince Apollonius who whiles these things were doing at Machilenta when the fouretéenth yéere was expired arriued at Tharsus and came into the citie vnto the house of Stranguilio and Dionisiades with whome he had left his yong daughter Tharsia Whome when Stranguilio beheld and knew hée ranne hastily vnto his wife Dionisiades and saide Thou reportedst that Prince Apollonius was dead and loe now where he is come to require his daughter What shall wée now doe or say vnto him Then cried she out alas wretched husband and wife that we are let vs quickely put on our mourning attire and shead foorth teares and hée wil beléeue vs that his daughter died a naturall death And when they had apparelled themselues they came foorth vnto Apollonius who séeing them in mourning attire said vnto them My trusty friends Stranguilio and Dionisiades why wéep ye thus at my comming tell me I pray you which I rather beléeue whether these teares be not rather mine than yours Not so my lord Apollollnius answered the wicked woman And I woulde to God some other body and not mine husband or I were inforced to tel you these heauie tidings that your deare daughter Tharsia is dead Whē Apollonius heard that word hée was suddenly cut to the heart and his flesh trembled that he coulde scarce stand on his legges and long time hée stoode amazed with his eies intentiuely fixed on the ground but at length recouering himselfe and taking fresh breath he cast vp his eyes vpon her and saide O woman if my daughter be dead as thou sayest she is is the money also and apparell perished with her She answered some is and some yet remaineth And as for your daughter my Lorde we were alwaies in good hope that when you came you should haue found her aliue and merry But to the intent that you may the better beléeue vs concerning her death we haue a sufficient witnes For our citizens being mindfull of your benefites bestowed vpon them haue erected vnto her a monument of brasse by yours which you may go sée if you please And when she had so saide she brought foorth such money iewels and apparell which it pleased her to say were remaining of Tharsias store And Apollonius beléeuing indéede that she was dead saide vnto his seruants take vp this stuffe and beare it away vnto the ships and I will goe walke vnto my daughters monument and when he came there hée read the superscription in manner as is aboue written and he fell suddenly as it were into an outragious affection and cursed his owne eies saying O most cruell eies why can you not yéelde foorth sufficient teares and woorthily bewaile the death of my deare daughter and with that word with griefe and extreme sorrowe he fell into a sowne from which so soone as euer he was once reuiued immediatelie hée went vnto the shippes vnto his seruauntes vnto whome hée saide cast mée I beséech you into the very bottome of the sea for I haue no ioy of my life and my desire is to yéelde vp my Ghost in the water But his seruants vsed great perswasions with him to assuage his sorrowe wherein presently they some deale preuailed as they might in so wofull a case and partly the time which is a curer of all cares continually mittigated some part of the griefe and hee espying the winde to serue well for their departure hoised vp saile and bid the land adue They had not thus sailed long in their course but the winde came about to a contrary quarter and blew so stifly that it troubled both sea and shippes The raine fell fiercely ouer head the sea wrought wonderously vnder the ships and to be short the tempest was terrible for the time It was then thought best in that extremitie to strike saile and let the helme go and to suffer the shippe to driue with the tide whither it shoulde please God to direct it But as ioy euermore followeth heauinesse so was this sharpe storme occasion of a swéet méeting of the father with the daughter as in processe heereafter it shall appeare For while Apollonius shippe runneth thus at randon it striketh vpon the shoare of the Citie Machilenta where at that present his daughter Tharsia remained Nowe it fortuned that this verie day of their arriuall was the birth day of Prince Apollonius and when as the Marriners sawe themselues so happily come to the land both for the gladnesse of the one and ioy of the other the master of the shippe and all the whole company gaue a great shout When Apollonius who lay solitarily vnder the hatches heard such a sodaine voice of mirth hee called vnto the master and demaunded what it meant The master aunswered we reioyce and be you glad also with vs my lorde for this day we doe solemnize the feast of your birth Then Apollonius sighed and said himselfe all
should be so And when they were returned from walking Lucina reioycing came vnto the king her father saying deare father reioice I beséech you and be glad with my lord Apollonius and me for the most cruell tyrant Antiochus and his daughter are by the iust iudgement of God destroied with lightning from heauen and the kingdome and riches are reserued for vs to inherite Moreouer I pray you good father let me haue your goodwil to trauel thither with my husband The king reioyced much at this tidings and graunted her reasonable request and also commaunded all things to be prouided immediatly that were necessary for the iourney The shippes were strongly appointed and brought vnto the shoare and fraught with al things conuenient as golde siluer apparell bedding vittels and armour Moreouer whatsoeuer fortune might befal the king prepared to saile with them Ligozides the nurse and a midwife and all things méet for the childe whensoeuer Lucina should néede them and with great honour himselfe accompanieth them vnto the sea side when the time appointed for their departure was come where with many teares and great fatherly affection hee kissed his daughter and embraced his sonne in law and recommended them vnto GOD in whome hée did wish vnto them a most prosperous iourney and so returned vnto his pallace CHAP. VIII How faire Lucina died in trauell of child vpon the sea and being throwen into the water was cast on land at Ephesus and taken home by Cerimon a Phisition THe marriners immediatly merrily hoissed saile and departed when they had sailed two dayes the master of the shippe warned Apollonius of a tempest approching which nowe came on and increased so fast that all the companie was amazed and Lucina what with sea-sicknes feare of dāger fel in labor of child wherewith she was weakened that there was no hope of recouerie but she must now die yet being first deliuered of a faire daughter insomuch that now all tokens of life were gone and she appeared none other but to be dead When Apollonius beheld this heauie spectacle no heart was able to conceiue his bitter grief for like a mad man distracted he tare his cloths and rent his haire and laying himself vpon the carkas he vttered these wordes with great affection O my deare lady and wife the daughter of king Altistrates what shall I now answer to thy father for thée would God thou haddest remained with him at home if it had pleased God to haue wrought this his pleasure in thée it had rather chanced with thy louing father in his quiet land than with me thy woful husband vpon the wild seas The whole company also made great lamentation for her bewailing the death of so noble and beautifull a ladie and so curteous a gentlewoman Howbeit in the hotest of the sorrowe the gouernour of the ship came vnto Apollonius saying My lord plucke vp your heart and be of good chéere and consider I pray you that the ship may not abide to carrie the dead carkas and therefore command it to be cast into the sea that we may the better escape Then answered Apollonius What saiest thou varlet wouldest thou haue me cast this bodie into the sea which receiued me into house and fauour when I was in miserie and drenched in the water wherein I lost ship goods all But taking further consultation and aduising himselfe what were best to do he called certaine of his men vnto him thus he deuised with them My trusty seruants whome this common mischance grieueth as wel as me since sorowing wil not help that which is chanced assist me good sirs to prouide for the present necessity Let vs make forthwith a large chest and bore the lid full of small holes and we will seare it all ouer within with pitch and rosen molten together whereinto we will put cunningly a shéete of lead and in the same we will inclose the tender corps of the wife of me of all other a most vnfortutunate husband This was no sooner said but it was almost likewise done with semblable celertie Then tooke they the body of the faire lady Lucina and arraied her in princely apparel and layd her into the chest and Apollonius placed a great summe of golde at her head a great treasure of siluer at her féet he kissed her letting fall a flood of salt teares on hir face and he wrote a bill and put it in also the tenor whereof was in forme as foloweth Whosoeuer shal find this chest I pray him to take ten pieces of gold for his paines and to bestowe tenne peeces more vpon the buriall of the corpes for it hath lest many teares to the parents and friends with dolefull heaps of sorow and heauines But whosoeuer shall doe otherwise than the present griefe requireth let him die a shamefull death and let there be none to bury his body And then closing all vp verie safe commaunded the chest to be lifted ouerboorde into the sea and willed the childe to be nursed with all diligence that if euer fortune should so fall he might present vnto good king Altistrates a néece in stéede of a daughter Now fléeted away the ship fast with the wind and the coffin tumbled backeward with the tide and Apollonius could not kéep his eie from the bodie whereon his heart rested vntill kenning failed and the sea rose vp with a banke betwéen There were two days passed and the night was now at hand when the next day morning the waues rolled foorth this chest to the land and cast it ashore on the coast of Ephesus Not farre from that place there dwelt a physition whose name was Cerimon who by chaunce walking abroad vpon the shore that day with his schollers found the chest which the sea had cast vp willed his seruants to take it vp diligently to cary it to the next towne where hee dwelt and they did so When Cerimon came home he opened the chest marueling what shuld be therein and found a lady arayed in princely apparell and ornaments very faire and beautifull to beholde Whose excellencie in that respect as many as beheld were strangely affectioned thereat perceiuing such an incomparable gleame of beautie to be resident in her face wherein nature had not committed the least errour that might be deuised sauing that shee made her not immortall The haire of her head was naturally as white as snowe vnder which appeared her goodly forehead faire and large wherein was neither blemish nor wrinkle Her eies were like two starres turning about in their naturall course not wantonly rouing here and there but modestly moouing as gouerned by reason representing the stabilitie of a setled mind Her eie brows decently commending the residue of her countenance Her nose straight as it were drawen with a line comely diuiding her cherry chéeks asunder not reaching foorth too long nor cut off too short but of a commendable proportion Hir necke was like the white alablaster shining
he to himselfe Thou hast resolued his probleme and yet not receiued his daughter and God hath therefore brought thee away that thou shouldest not die Then brake hee off in the midst of these cogitations and immediatly commanded his ships to be prepared and to be laden with an hundred thousand bushels of wheate and with great plentie of gold siluer and rich apparrell and taking vnto him a few of his most trustiest seruants about midnight imbarked himself and hoysing vp his sails committed himselfe to the wide sea The day following his subiects the citizens came vnto the pallace to haue seene their Prince but when they found him not there the whole citie was forthwith surprised with wonderfull sorrowe euerie man lamenting that so worthy a Prince so sodainly gone out of sight and knowledge no man knew whether Great was the griefe and wofull was the wayling which they made euery man lamenting his owne priuate estate and the common-wealths in generall as it alwaies hapneth at the death or losse of a good Prince which the inhabitants of Tirus tooke then so heauily in respect of their great affection that a long time after no barbers shops were opened the common shews and plaies surceased baines and hoat houses were shut vp tauerns were not frequented and no man repaired vnto the Churches al thing was full of sorrw and heauinesse what shall I say there was nothing but heauinesse CHAP. III. How Taliarchús not finding Apollonius at Tirus departeth ioyfully and Apollonius arriuing at Tharsus relieueth the citie with vittell IN the middes of this sorrowfull season Taliarchus commeth to Tirus to execute the cruell commandement of Antiochus where finding al-thing shut vp and a generall shew of mourning meeting with a boy in the stréete tell me said he or I will slay thee for what cause is al this citie thus drowned in heauines To whom the child answered My friend doest thou not know the cause that thou askest it of me This citie mourneth because the Prince therof Apollonius returning back from king Antiochus can no where be found or heard of Now so soone as Taliarchus heard these tidings he returned ioyfully vnto his ships and tooke his iourny backe to Antiochia and being landed he hastened vnto the king and fell downe on his knees before him saying All haile most mightie Prince reioyce and be glad for Apollonius being in feare of your grace is departed no man knoweth whether Then answered the king He may well flie away from mee but he shall neuer escape my handes And immediatly he made proclamation that whosoeuer could take that contemner of the king Apollonius prince of Tirus and bring him aliue into the kinges presence shoulde haue an hundred talents of golde for his labour and whosoeuer coulde bring his head shoulde haue fiftie talentes Which proclamation beeing published not onely Apollonius ennemies but also his friendes made all haste possible to seeke him out allured thereto with couetousnesse of the money Thus was that poore Prince 〈◊〉 for about by sea and by land through woodes 〈◊〉 wilde deserts but could not be found Then the king commanded a great Nauie of ships to be prepared to scoure the seas abroad if haply they might méet with him but for that euery thing requireth a time ere it can be done in the meane season Apollonius arriueth at Tharsus where walking along by the sea side he was espied by one of his owne seruauntes named Elinatus who landed there not long before and ouertooke him as he was going and comming neere vnto him with dutifull obeisance said vnto him God saue you prince Apollonius But he being saluted did euen so as noble men and princes vse to doe set light by him But Elinatus taking that behauiour vnkindly saluted him againe saying God saue you prince Apollonius salute me againe and despise not pouertie beautified with honestie And if you knewe that which I know you would take good heed to your self Then answered Apollonius If you thinke good I I pray you tell me Elinatus answered you are by proclamation commanded to be slaine And who said Apollonius dares commaund by proclamation the prince of a countrey to be slaine Antiochus said Elinatus Antiochus For what cause demanded Apollonius For that said Elinatus thou wouldst be vnto his daughter which he himselfe is Then demanded Apollonius for what summe of mony is my life sold by that proclamation Elinatus answered whosoeuer can bring you aliue vnto the king shall haue an hundred talents of gold in recompence but who so bringeth your head shall haue fiftie talents of gold for his labour and therefore I aduise you my lord to flie vnto some place for your defence and when he had so said he tooke his leaue and departed But Apollonius called him againe and said that hee would giue him an hundred talents of gold for said he receiue thus much now of my pouertie where nothing is now left vnto me but flight and pining misery Thou hast deserued the reward wherefore draw out thy sword and cut off my head present it to the king as the most ioyful sight in the world Thus mayst thou win an hundred talents of gold and remaine without all blame or note of ingratitude since I my selfe haue hyred thée in the kinges behalfe to gratefie him with so acceptable a present Then answered Elinatus God forbid my lord that by anie such sinister means I should deserue a reward In all my life I neuer consented to any such matter in my heart And my lord if the déed were good the loue of vertue were sufficient force to allure any man thereunto But since it respecteth your life to whome in consideration of the cause no man may doe violence without villanie I commit both you and your matter vnto God who no doubt will be your defender And when he had thus said he departed But Apollonius walked forth along vpon the shoare where he had not gone farre but he descried a man a farre off comming towardes him with heauie chéere and a sorrowfull countenance and his name was Stranguilio a Tharsian borne and of good reputation in the citie To whom saide Apollonius God saue you Stranguilio and he likewise resaluted him saying and you likewise my good lord Apollonius I pray you tel me what is the cause that you walk in this place thus troubled within your minde Apollonius answered because being promised to haue king Antiochus daughter to my wife if I told him the true meaning of his question nowe that I haue so done I am notwithstanding restrained from her Wherefore I request you it may so be that I may liue secretly in your citie for why I stand moreouer in some doubt of the kinges farther displeasure Stranguilio answered My lord Apollonius our citie at this present is verie poore and not able to sustaine the greatnesse of your dignitie and euen now we suffer great penurie and want of vittell insomuch that there remaineth small hope of
comfort vnto our citizens but that we shall all perish by extreme famine and now certes there resteth nothing but the fearefull image of gastly death before our eies When Apollonius heard these wordes he said vnto him Then giue thankes vnto God who in my flight hath brought me a land into your costes For I haue brought great store of prouision with me and I will presently giue vnto your citie an hundreth thousand bushels of wheate if you will onely conceale my comming hither At these wordes Stranguilio being strooken as it were into a sodaine amazednesse as it happeneth when a man is ouerioyed with some glad tidinges fell downe prostrate before prince Apollonius feete and saide My lord Apollonius if you coulde and also if it might please of your great goodnesse in such sort as you say to succour this afflicted and famished citie we wil not onely receiue you gladly and conceale your abode but also if néede so require willingly spend our liues in your quarrell Which promise of mine to the intent you may heare to be confirmed by the full consent of all the citizens might it please your Grace to enter into the citie and I most willingly will attend vpon you Apollonius agréed thereto and when they came into the citie he mounted vp into the place of iudgment to the intent he might the better be heard and gathering al the people togither thus hee spake vnto the whole multitude Ye citizens of Tharsus whom penurie of vittell pincheth at this present vnderstand ye that I Apollonius prince of Tirus am determined presently to relieue you In respect of which benefite I trust ye will be so thankfull as to conceale mine arriuing hither And know ye moreouer that not as being driuen away through the malice of king Antiochus but sayling along by the Seas I am happily fallen into your hauen Wherefore I meane to vtter vnto you an hundred thousand busshels of wheate paying no more than I bought it for in mine owne countrey that is to say eight péeces of brasse for euerie bushell When the citizens heard this they gaue a shout for ioy crying God saue my Lord Apollonius promising to liue and die in his quarrell and they gaue him wonderfull thankes and the whole citie was replenished with ioy and they went forthwith vnto the ships and bought the corne But Apollonius doubting lest by this déede he should séeme to put off the dignitie of a prince and put on the countenance of a merchant rather than a giuer when he had receiued the price of the wheate he restored it backe againe to the vse and commoditie of the same citie And when the citizens perceiued the great benefites which he had bestowed vpon their citie they erected in the marked place a monument in the memoriall of him his stature made of brasse standing in a charret holding corne in his right hand and spurning it with his left foot and on the baser foot of of the pillar whereon it stoode was ingrauen in great letters this superscription Apollonius prince of Tirus gaue a gift vnto the citie of Tharsus whereby hée deliuered it from a cruell death CHAP. IIII. How Apollonius departing from Tharsus by the perswasion of Stranguilio and Dionisiades his wife committed shipwracke and was relieued by Altistrates king of Pentapolis THus had not Apollonius aboden many daies in the citie of Tharsus but Stranguilio Dionisiades his wife earnestly exhorted him as séeming very carefull and tender of his welfare rather to addresse himselfe vnto Pentapolis or among the Tirenians as a place most fit for his securitie where he might lie and hide himselfe in greatest assurance tranquilitie Wherefore hereunto he resolued himselfe and with conuenient expedition prepared al things necessarie for the iourney And when the day of his departure was come he was brought with great honour by the citizens vnto his ships where with a courteous farewell on ech side giuen the marriners weighed anker hoysed sailes and away they goe committing themselues to the wind and water Thus sailed they forth along in their course thrée days and thrée nights with prosperous winde and weather vntill sodainly the whole face of heauen and sea began to change for the skie looked blacke and the Northerne wind arose and the tempest increased more and more insomuch that prince Apollonius and the Tyrians that were with him were much apalled and began to doubt of their liues But loe immediatly the winde blew fiercely from the South-west and the North came singing on the otherside the rain powred down ouer their heads and the sea yéelded forth waues as it had béene mountanes of water that the ships could no longer wrestle with the tempest and especially the admirall wherein the good prince himselfe fared but néeds must they yéeld vnto the present calamitie There might you haue heard the winds whistling the raine dashing the sea roaring the cables cracking y e tacklings breaking the shippe tearing the men miserable shouting out for their liues There might you haue séene the sea searching the shippe the bordes fléeting the goods swimming the treasure sincking the men shifting to saue themselues where partly through violence of the tempest and partly through darcknes of the night which then was come vpon them they were all drowned onely Apollonius excepted who by the grace of God and the helpe of a simple boord was driuen vpon the shoare of the Pentapolitanes And when he had recouered to land wearie as he was he stoode vpon the shoare and looked vpon the calme sea saying O most false and vntrustie sea I will choose rather to fall into the handes of the most cruell King Antiochus than venture to returne againe by thée into mine owne Countrey thou hast shewed thy spite vpon me and deuoured my trustie friendes and companions by meanes whereof I am nowe left alone and it is the prouidence of almightie God that I haue escaped thy gréedie iawes Where shall I now finde comfort or who will succour him in a strange place that is not knowen And whilest he spake these wordes hée sawe a man comming towardes him and he was a rough fisherman with an hoode vpon his head and a filthie leatherne pelt vpon his backe vnséemely clad and homely to beholde When hée drewe neare Apollonius the present necessitie constraining him thereto fell down prostrate at his féet and powring forth a floud of teares he said vnto him whosoeuer thou art take pitie vpon a poore sea-wracked man cast vp nowe naked and in simple state yet borne of no base degrée but sprung foorth of noble parentage And that thou maiest in helping me knowe whome thou succourest I am that Apollonius prince of Tyrus whome most part of the worlde knoweth and I beséech thée to preserue my life by shewing mée thy friendly reliefe When the fisherman beheld the comlinesse and beautie of the yoong Gentleman hée was mooned with compassion towardes him and lifted him vp from the ground and lead
as you sée not moued by my will but constrained by iniurie Wherfore tell me was I euer vnthankfull vnto your Citie in generall or vnto any of you al in particular They all aunswered with one voice no my lord and therfore wee are ready all to spend our liues in thy quarrell and as thou knowest well wée haue erected heere in perpetuall memorie of thee a statue of brasse because thou preseruedst vs from death and our citie from vtter destruction Then said Apollonius vnderstand then this much my friends that when I departed last from this citie I committed my daughter in trust vnto Stranguilio and his wife Dionisiades and when I came to require her they woulde not deliuer her vnto me nor tell me the trueth what is become of her Immediatly they were both called forth to aunswere vnto these matters before Apollonius where falling downe on their knees before him Dionisides answered in this manner My lord I beséech you stand fauourable vnto my poore husband and mee and not to beleeue any other thing concerning your daughter then that shée is departed this life And as for hir graue you haue seene it and also the monument of brasse erected by the whole citie in the memoriall of her and moreouer you haue read the superscription Then Apollonius commaunded his daughter to stand foorth in the presence of them all and shée saide vnto Dionisiades beholde thou wicked woman dead Tharsia is come to greete thée who as thou diddest well hope shoulde neuer haue béen forth comming to haue bewrayed thy wickednesse But when the miserable woman beheld Tharsia her heart quaked for feare and shée fell to the ground in a swoond and when shée recouered againe shee cried out vppon the iust iudgement of God and cursed the time that shee was borne And all the people ranne thronging about Tharsia and wondered at her thinking howe greatly they had been of long time abused by Stranguilio and Dionisiades and they reioyced much in her safetie and all knewe by her countenance that it was shée and none other O now who were able to declare the bitter griefe and intollerable care which eftsoones assaied the wearisome consciences of these twaine the husband and the wife when they sawe her liuing and in good liking before their faces whose death they had so traiterously conspired Euen hell it selfe is not comparable vnto so heauie a burden the vnspeakable weight whereof all men ought to feare and none can sufficiently describe vnlesse hée haue been semblably plunged in the like gulfe of horrible desperation Then Tharsia called for Theophilus Stranguilios villaine and when hée was come into her presence shée saide vnto him Theophilus aunswere mée aloud that all the people may heare who sent thee forth to slay me Hee aunswered Dionisiades my Mistresse What mooued her thereunto saide Tharsia None other thing I suppose saide the villaine but to enioy the money and ornamentes and also because thy beautie and comelinesse were commended aboue Philomacias her daughters Nowe when the people heard this they ranne vppon Stranguilio and Dionisiades and tooke them violently and bound them and drew them out of the citie and stoned them to death and would likewise haue slaine Theophilus the villaine for that that at his mistresse commandement he would haue murdered the innocent maiden But Tharsia intreated for him saying Not so my deare friends I pray you let me obtaine pardon for him at your handes for vnlesse he had giuen me respite to say my praiers I had not been heere now to haue spoken for him and when she had said so the furious multitude was appeased And Apollonius gaue many exceeding rich giftes vnto the citie and repared it strongly in many places where it was decaied and abode there with them the space of three monthes in feasting and making merry before he departed CHAP. XXII How Apollonius sailed from Tharsus to visite his father in law Altistrates king of Pentapolis who died not long after Apollonius comming thither THe terme of thrée monethes that Apollonius purposed for his delight to remaine at Tharsus was almost expired and he cōmanded all things to be prepared for the iourney and when the day was come hee made generall proclamation vppon paine of death euery man to ship And when the whole army was imbarked he took ship himselfe with his wife and his daughter being honourably accompanied by the citizens vnto the water side and after due courtesie on both sides done and receiued hee hoysed sayle and departed towardes Pentopolis king Altistrates Citie And when they had sailed with prosperous winde ten dayes vppon the Sea they discouered a farre off the Steeples and Towres of Pentapolis and the Souldiers reioyced and gaue a shout for gladnesse that they were so neere to their wished land Then they cast about and cut towards the hauen and cast anker and landed all safe and Apollonius with his wife and daughter after hee had taken order for the companie rode vnto the court vnto king Altistrates whom they found in good health and merry And when Altistrates saw his sonne in lawe his daughter and his neece Tharsia hee bid them welcome and reioyced exceedingly and sent for the Nobles of his land to keepe them companie and gaue them the best entertainement that hee could deuise and they soiourned with him an whole yeare in pleasure and pastime whereof the king tooke as great comfort as was possible for a man to doe in any worldly felicitie But as there was neuer yet any thing certaine or permanent in this mortall life but alwaies we be requited with sowre sauce to our sweete meate and when wee thinke our selues surest in the top of ioy then tilt wée downe soonest into the bottome of sorrow so fared it now vnto these personages in the midst of their iollitie For the good old king Altistrates fell sodainly sick which much appalled them all and grew euerie day weaker than other Then were the Phisitions sent for in haste who left nothing vntried that appertained vnto Art and experience to doe and aboue all Apollonius and Lucina his wife plaied the parts of duetifull children in tendring their aged and weake father with all care and diligence possible But alas olde age which of it selfe is an vncurable sickenesse and had béene growing nowe well nigh an hundred yeares lacking seuen vpon him accompanied with the intollerable paine of the gowt and the stone of the bladder had consumed naturall moisture so that his force gaue ouer to the disease and shortely after changed this transitorie life for a better When report was spread abroad of the kings death there was great sorrowe and lamentation made in all places neither was there any that tooke not grieuously the losse of so good a Prince But to describe the inward affliction of Apollonius and the teares of the Ladie Lucina and Tharsia her daughter woulde make any heart of flint to bléede considering the tender affections of women aboue men and howe prone