of all others And though my eyes had sometimes gained famous Victories and could have counted among their Captives Caesares and Halph gods Yet I trusted not to their Charmes I suspected my beautie at that time I thought it had not force enough to conquer you And as you was the most Magnificent of all men I did not wish that love should take possession of your heart but by Magnificencie And that the day of its Prâ—sall should seem rather to be a day of Triumph then of Battle I desired to dasle your eyes then by the beautie of my Armes for if you remember My dear Anthonie the first day that I say you I shinned in a ship whose Poupe was all of Gold the sails Purpell and the oares Silver which by their Equall Cadence imitated the sound of diverse instruments concording together I was under a Pavilion or wrought Gold and knowing your Birth was divine because you are descended of Hercules you are not ignorant that I had a Vesture like that which is given to Venus All my Women were Splendidlie Cloathed as Nymphes and a hundred Cupidons round about me Were also an effect of the desire I had to overcome you For in fine My dear Anthony that little Armour was only made against you It was not then without design that I overcame you I employed all things to that end And nothing that Beautie Skill or Magnificencie could do was fogot at that time I know verie well it is imprudence to speak to you of all those things in a time so differing from the felicitie of that but that day was so gloâ—ious to me that I can never loss the memorie of it And moreover to speak Rationallie that Remembrance is not unprofitable for my Vindication For to think any way that I my self would loss my conquests such thoughts never entered in the minde of any Conquerour Certainlie Alexander would have rather chosen to loss Macedonia then Persia That Kingdom was his Fathers Estate But this was truelie his own And by the same Reason I would have rather lost my self then lost you You know also if I be not mistaken that I was no severe Conqueress the Chains I gave you were of no weight my Lawes had nothing of Rudness in them and in the manner I used you it had been hard to know who was Victorious Since that what have I done Anthonie to make me be suspected It is true I forgot my own Glorie but it was for love of you Yes I have suffered my self to be opprobriated in Rome and although the pride of your Country that treats all strangers like Barbarians and all Queens like slaves hindered me from being your Wife the affection which I have for your Person is so strong that I have not left off to be yours Yes Anthonie I loved you more then my honor and more then my life I thought it could not be unjust to love a man worthie of being ranked among the gods And that the Passion which I had in my Soul had so noble a cause that it would render me excusable so that without considering what misfortuns were prepared for me I have most constantlie loued you ever since the fâ—â—st day that I gave you my promise Judge from that if I had power to betray you or to speak better if I would betray my self It is true I fled but generous Anthonie if I took the flight it was for love of you I slighted the Victorie to preserve your life And your person was dearer to me then your glorie or my own I Well see that this Discourse Astonishes and surprises you But for your comprehension permit me to tell what condition my Soul was in when in the midest of the Fight I saw you all covered with Darts and Flams The death which I saw in so manie places made me apprehensive of yours all the Enemies Javelines seemed by me to address themselves against you And in the manner that my imagination represented the affair to me I thought all Cesars Armie desired to fight none but Anthonie I manie times fancied that I saw you dragged by force into the enemies vessalls or fall dead at their feet And although those who were round about me assured me that I was deceived by my eyes and that the Victorie was still uncertain What did I not say in those fatal moments And what grief did I not feel Ah! my dear Anthonie did you but know the sorrows of a Soul that sees the Person beloved everie minute in hazard of dying you would find it the most terrible torment thar can ever be indured My heart received all the blows which were aimed at you I was captive everie time I thought you so and death it self hath nothing so rude as what I suffered at that time In that deplorable condition I found no remedie for my grief and my imagination using greater Ingenuitie for my Persecution after having perswaded me that all the enemies desired your death immediatlie perswaded me that they resolved to preserve your life thereby to make themselves Masters of your libertie The first thought did certainlie give me a little ease But the image of Cesars Triumph presenting it self all at once to me I relapsed into my former despaire It was not my dear Anthonie that I believed you capable of following a Conquerours Charriot But I thought that to shune that supream misfortune you would have recourse to death So that whatever way it was I alwayes found my self equallie unhappie I bethought me of what poison I should choice that I might follow you And there is no fatall Resolution which past not in my minde I thought more then twentie times to cast my self into the Sea to free me from the agonie I was in Yet because I could not die with out forsaking you I could not pursue that design But coming of a sudden to consider the strong Passion which you alwaies testified to me I thought if you should see me abandon the armie you would also forsake it by that found I the meanes of preserving your life and libertie together For said I to my self after framing that Resolution Cesar doth not seek Victorie so much as the life or libertie of Anthonie And upon condition that he have neither the one nor the other I shall be glad to loss the Battle In fine my dear Anthonie I did what my affection and despair councelled me to do And you did what I expected from your love I had no sooner seen you quit your Ship and take a Galley to follow me but my heart was seaâ—ed with a Surprisall of Joy Me thought it was I gained the Battle because I preserved you And beginning to think that Cesar would be content to exchange his for forâ—â—â—e for mine I was partlie comforted of all my disgraceâ— But that which yeelded me most satisfaction in that 〈◊〉 day was to see Anthonie capable of preferring Cleopatra to the desire of conquering his enemies that he loved
alace can I tell it Yes Lucretia for your vindication and chastisement thou must to day be altogether thy accuser thy witness thy partie thy defender and thy judge Know then Collatinus that that Lucretia who did ever love her honor better then her life or yours Whose chastitie was alwayes without blemish The puritie of whose Soul is incorruptible Hath suffered in your place a base an infamous Person the son of a Tirran and a verie Tirran himself Yes Collatinus the perfidious Tarquin whom you called your friend when you brought him to me the first time that I had seen him and would to the Gods it had been the last day of my life That Traitor I say hath made Triumph of Lucretias chastity By despising his own Glorie he hath lessened yours by having absolutlie benighted mine Aud by a crueltie which never had example he hath reduced me to the most deplorable condition that Woman whose whole inclinations are Noble could ever see I perseive Generous Collatinus that my discourse astonishes you And that you are in pain to believe what I say Yet it is a certain truth I am witness and asociate of Lucretias crime Yes Collatinus though I am yet alive I am not innocent Yes my Father your daughter is guiltie for having survived her glorie Yes Brutus I merit the hatred of all my Neighbours And when I have commited no other crime but the giving love to a cruell Tirran who by the abuse he hath done to me hath altogether violated the Laws of men of friendshp offended the Roman People and despised the Gods It is enough to merit the hatred of all the World Wo is me Is it possible that Lucretia could inspire such base thoughts that her fatal beautie could kindle a flame which should be her own destruction And that her looks which were so innocent could give such criminall desires But what is thy wonder insensible that thou art Rather wonder that thou did not tear thy heart before thy great misfortune Then was the time Lucretia wherein you should have testified courage and the love that you had to Glorie You should have then died innocent Your life would have been spotless and without question the Gods would have â—een carefull of your reputation Butinfine the busifiess is not so I am unhappie unworthie to fee the right Unworthie of being Spurius Lucretius his Daughter Unworthie of being Collatinus his Wife And unworthie of being a Roman Now Collatinus I ask of you what punishment Lucretia deserves Deprive her of your affection Blot her our of your Remembrance Revenge the abuse that has been done to her onlie for love to your self and not out of love her Look upon her no more but as infamous And though her misfortune be extream deny her that compassion which is had of all that are miserable But nevertheless if it were permitted me after I have spoken against my self to say some what in my defence I would say Collatinus without contradicting truth That I have not obscured my Glorie but by having loved Glorie too well Tarquins cajolleries did not touch my heart His passion gave me none His presents did not at all suborn my fidelitie Nor love nor ambition brangled my Soul And if I desired to speak for my self I can onlie say that I loved my Reputation too much Yes Collatinus Lucretias crime was that she preferred fame to true Glorie When the insolent Tarquin came into my Chamber I being awaked saw a Poiginard in his hand And having brought it to my Throat to hinder my out-cries he began to speak of a passion he had for me The Gods knows what were then my thoughts And if death appeared terrible to me In that condition I equallie despised the praiers and threats of the Tyrran His demands and offers were equallie rejected Neither love nor fear had anie place in my Soul Death did not affright me And so far from apprehending I manie times desired it My Vertue had nothing to fight against at that time I was not pendulous to preser death to the Tyrrans love And I know no horrid pain which I would not have joyfullie endured to have preserved my honour But when my coustancie had wearied the Tirrans patience That he saw neither his praiers tears presents promises threats nor death it self could move my heart That Barbarian inspired by the furies said it I resisted his desires anie longer he would not onlie kill me But to make me infamous to Posteritie he would 〈◊〉 slave who accompanied him To the end that 〈…〉 him dead in my bed it should be thought that I 〈◊〉 forgot my honour for that slave and that he wing 〈…〉 zeal to you had punished us as being guiltie of that crime I avouch with shame that that discourse wrought on my Spirit what the certaintie of death could not do I lost strength and reason I yeelded to the Tirran And the fear of being thought infamous is the onlie thing that made me so No Collatinus I cannot endure that Lucretia should be accused to have failled in her honour That the memorie of it was eternallie blasted And thinking that she should be execrable to you hindered her from dying at that instant and makes her live till now I did all things to oppose the Tyrrans violences except killing my self I desired to live that I might preserve my Reputation and that I should not die unrevenged And a false image of true Glorie taking possession of my heart made me commit a crime which I feared to be accused of However the Gods are my witnesses that my Soul and desires are whollie pure my consent contributed nothing to that doolefull accident neither in the beginning progress nor end of it You know Generous Collatinus that when you brought the Tirran as your Friend I was not voluntarlie the cause of his unjust passion I scarce lifted up my eies to look upon him And that Illustrious Victorie which my Modestie gained to you that day should make you sufficientlie remember that I have not drawn upon my self the misfortune that is befallen me After that I did not see the treacherous Tarquin untill that dismall day wherein he made prise of Lucretia Vertue But what do I say Tirrans have no power over the will I am yet the same Lucretia who so much loved glorie Because it is certain that mine is altogether innocent The tears which flow from my eies are not the effects of my remorse I repent not for the fault I have committed but onlie that I died not before that of another We were two in the crime and but one Criminall And my conscience does check me of nothing but my having preferred my reputation and revenge to a Glorious death That which hath caused my misfortune is that I believed the Glorie of my death would not be known I doubted the equitie of the Gods at that time And without remembering that they do miracles when they please and that they are protectors of innocence
and scorn her This famous Persons is what you have to say to them upon the subject â—â—hand but if they insist that I have observed no order of Chronologie heir how I have placed my 〈…〉 That they will see Câ—eâ—pas a before 〈…〉 after Zenobâ—a c. Tell them it is â—ue but this error is voluntar and if I dare say Judicious I have imitated at this time the Skill of their who make nosegayes who mixe by a regular confusion Roses and Jassamine the flower of Orange and the Pomgraned the Tulips and the junquille to the end that from this so pleasing mixture of coulors there appear ane agreable diversitie still to please the sight Just so heir I have chosen in historie the finest mater and the most different that I could And have so orderlie mixed and so fitlie concealed them that it is almost impossible but the reader shall be diverted But divyn persons if anie remark slightlie that among Heroines there are more afflicted then content Ansuer it is ane ordinarie thing that fortune and vertue are two old enemies that all beauties are not happie and that compassion and pittie are not the least agreeable and least touching resentments which this sort of reading can give You have yet to answer these who find it strange that the Title of my Book should be the Illustrious WOMEN or the HEROICK HARRANGUES And who will say that Women and Haâ—rangues are not the same thing you have I say to answer them that the example of Herodâ—â—es authorises me and condemns them And if it was not forbidden him to name the nine books of his historie Mâ—lpomene Erâ—stone Cleo Vnauia Terficor Eurerpe 〈◊〉 Calliâ—pâ—ia and Pilaâ—â—ea which are the names of the nine Muses these who are Gode esse and not Books this which I have doe may verie well be permitted me Moreover if it be observed that in part of my Harrangues there are some Meditations which have been seen in MODERN Tragedies Where these same Heroins are introduced I do conjure you to hinder 〈◊〉 from being so unjust as to suspect my having taken them from thence And for my vindication say if you please that there are certain Universall Notions which necessarlie occurres to all the World when they treat of the same Subjects Further if there be any strange thing in my work that hath not been taken from the Modernes But which they and I have taken from Antiquitie I believed it requisite to adorn those Harrangues with all that Historie had that was pleasant and remarkable concerning the Subject I treat of And I have made a curious enough search whereby to merit some Glorie However I was so scrupulous in it that I have marked with a different caracter all that it did furnish me with so much for Meditation to make slanderers silent as for envie I have no such esteem of my self as to dare believe that I can make it speak In fine to make an end of answering ali the objections that can be made against me if any does take the Medalles of those Heroines for Medailles made for pleasure and think them false because their inscriptions are French in stead of those which are true that are Greek or Latin Answer if you please that they who are curious to know will defend me from the ignorance of them who know not And that I have made these inscriptions in our Language in favours of them who do not understand Latin and who cannot read Greeck Behold Noble Ladies what you have to say for me or to speak more truly what I had to say to you for to end this dicourse by which I have begun if so be you are satisfyed I cannot faill to be contented And if this Triumphing Arch which I have set up to the Glorie of your Sex be not judged unworthie of you it shall not be the last work I shall undertake for you I meditat a second Volumn of Harrangues whose subject are no less great then the first They have also something more peireing and more proper for divertisement But you think it convenient after this first race that I withdraw to the end of the careire that before I make a second I behold the scaffolds and try to know in your eyes if my adress hath pleased you ARTEMISA TO SOCRATES THE FIRST HARRANGUE ARGUMENT AFter that Artemisa had employed the most knowing Architectures of her time to build a glorious Monument which was since one of the seven wonders of the World the love she had for her dear Mausole was not fully saâ—isfied she caused Socrates and Theopompus the two most famous Orators of antiquity come from Greece and by truely Royal Liberalitie she oblidged these great men to set their Eloquence at work in favours of the King her Husband that they might eternise his memorie it was in asking this Favour that this fair comfortless spoke to them in this manner when the excess of her love made her forget that she was speaking before the famous Socrates ARTEMISA to SOCRATES IT is from you O Famous Orator that expect the immortality of Mausole It is you must give a Soul to all the Statues I set up It is you must make 〈◊〉 a Tomb which the revolutions of Agâ—â— cannot destroy and which will eternise Mausole Socrates and Artemisa together Do not think that I believe Time or Fortune will respect the Gold the Marble the Jaspire the Porphire and the Orientall Alabaster which I employ to build Him a sumptuous Monument No I know that these three hundred Pillars in which all order is carefully observed whose foundations are so sollidliâ— fixed whose Chapiters are so magnifick and where Art surpasses the Matter shall one day be but pittifull Ruines and after a little Time shall be nothing at all those lowe Sculptures which are at the four Faces of the Sepulchre shall Successively be defaced by injurious Seasons and but with pain shall some imperfect figures be there perceived of all those things which we admire to day Those Obelisques which seem to defie Tempests may be one day beat down with Thunder and turned 〈◊〉 Dust these smoaking Vessals those extinguished Terches these trophies of Armes and all the Ornaments that Architecture is capable of shall not hinder the distruction of this Work In fine Socrates When I have wasted all my Treasures for this Tomb and that by the skilfull hands of Scopas of Briaxes of Timothie and of Leochares I have put it in condition to pass for one of the wonders of the World if after all this none take care to preserve his Memorie by writtings The statues which I have set up the Gold the Marble the Jaspire the Porphire the Alabaster the Pillars the low Sculpteâ—â— the Obelisques the smoaking Vessals the extinguished Torches all the Ornaments of Building 〈…〉 in the work shall not I say hinder 〈…〉 his Architectures his Sculptors and Artemisa her selfe from being buried in Oblivion and from be 〈…〉 known to the Ages
propose crimes to her seeminglic true And moreover you know that that which is called Beautie in me never gave me vanitie And that I have alwayes taken more pains to be Vertuous then fair Yet I do not deny that there hath been a Picture of Mariamne which has passed among all Princes of the Earth and which perhaps will be a long time preserved there Yes Herod there is an invisible Image of Mariamne which wanders through the World which makes her innocent Conquests and which without her consent makes secret Enemies to you Her high-Birth her Vertue her Patience and your Crueltie are the onlie Colours that are made use of in this Picture And the Blood which I am going to shed shall doubtless perfect the rendering of it adorable to Posteritie But to answer the second Accusation that is made against me which though false hinders not my changing of Colonâ— by the confusion I am in to be constrained to speak of such a thing I shall say with joy that thanks to Heaven I have no other witness against me but you who during the time of this supposed crime was at Laodicea And by Consequence was incapable of answering for my Actions So well am I assured that neither your eyes nor your ears could declare any thing against my innocencie And although that your Court be all composed of your slaves or of my enemies that your veris Sister who hates me and through envie and by interest of State hath observed with Extraordinarie care even the least things that I have done or spoken I say I am verâ—â— certain that she dares not maintain before me â—o have heard on word or remarked one single look which could make the modestie of Mariamne suspected It is noâ— but that I know verie well she can tell a lie 〈…〉 which makes me speak with so much boldness is 〈◊〉 I know me to have more Vertue then she has Malice and that having Heavon for my Protector I cannot believe that if at least I do perish I shall not obtain Grace to die in that manner that your injustice and my innocencie shal be equallie manifested And trulie at this time we need but open our eyes to see that these Accusations which are made against me are but pretexts to loss me For what likelie-hood is there if I were guilty of such a crime that I would have chosen the husband of Salome my cruelest Enemie and Herods confident But a coÌ„fideÌ„t to that degree that all things were trusted to him 〈◊〉 there was no wicked design which was not communicated to him He was partner in all your crimes He was the goaler not lover of Mariamne to say all It was he should plunge the poyniard in my heart to obey your wil. O! Heaven who did ever see such Testimonies of Love Why Herod you might at parting bid me adieu with tears you might look upon as you have done with eyes wherein I saw but signes of Affection and at the same time meditate my death Ah! If you could which I doubt not you might verie well also to day feigne that you believe me culpable to make me die Innocent And tell me not as a favour that this command was the effect of the strong passion you had for me the death of the person beloved can never be a Testimonie of Affection Hatred and Love have not the same operations they may some times reign successivlie in the heart but never together Everie man who loves well lives not without the person beloved yet he can alwaies die without her and her death can never be an agreeable thought to him He should regrate his being separated from her and not regrate that she died not with him But your way of loving is onlie peculiar to your self and your inclinations are so Naturallie cruel that poisons and daggers are the best gifts that can be received from yon when you would testifie your Freindship Pray you tell me how you can Accomodate all those things You say that I have sent my picture to Anthony and consequentlie that I had an intelligence with him and at the same time you again Accuse me of having one with Joseph because say you you having trusted to him the thing in the World which was of â—greatest Importance to you and he having discovered it to me it is impossible but that I should have given my self absolutely to him for that advertisment Consider well Herod what you say Anthony and Joseph could they be both together in my heart were these two rivals of the same qualitie and merit And this Mariamne whose Birth is so great and Illustrious whose Soul is so High and so Glorious that her Noble pride is by some rather taken for a fault then a vertue could she be capable for alike weakness for two men so different who could have no conformitie together if not that it had been equallie impossible for them to have touched my heart when they would have endeavoured it This conquest is not so easie as you think and trulie I wonder that you who could never do it judges it hath cost others so little I do acknowledge that Joseph did discover to me the wicked design that you had against me but I also avouch I believed him not I did immediaâ—lie think that it was a Treacherie of Salome who to make me carrie my self the more excessivlie against you to the end of advancing my death had invented that device imagining with her self that my death would trouble me more then did that of Hircane and of my brother And that which made me the more believe it was so was that I saw him undertake to perswade me that I ought to be infinitle oblidged to you for that excess of love which you testified to me at that time adding also that he told me not the design but when you was readie to return and that so far from making a Misterious Secret he told it in presence of my Mother and before all my Women It is certain that as I ought also to know all from you I doubted the truth of what Joseph told me I thought being the Mother of your Children you was incapable of such barbarous thoughts And in effect without determinating the matter in my mind I waited your return I received you then with the same Melancholie that I have alwayies had since the death of Hireane and Aristobulus without testifying any more and observing all your actions I acknowledge that I ever doubted the truth of Josephs discourse The malice of his Wire made me also more suspicious and when I was speaking to you it is true I rather designed to informe my self of the thing then to reproach you For if 〈…〉 been true that I had a particular Affection for Joseph and that I had taken what he said as the pure effect of of his compassion to me I had sooner died then had spoken of it and that unfortunate man should have also lived Nevertheless
better to follow her though unfortunate then to pâ—â—sue the Victorie and in fine that the Empire of the Worâ—â— was not so dear to him as Cleopatra This thought 〈◊〉 so pleasant that though my fright ranked us among the conquered I cannot repent me and as the case is the Battle of Actium shall not be so glorious â—â— Cesar as to Cleopatra He overcame Souldiers who wanted their Commander but Cleopatra saw the most Valiant of all the Heroes throw away his Armes and follow her But to perfect my vindication 〈…〉 my dear Anthonie that how soon you was disingaged from your Ships I caused a Banner be set upon the Poupe of mine to advertise you where you should find me Judge then if that could be the action of a Criminall For if I had designed to be separated from you it was easie for me not to have received you Because I had sixtie sail and you had but one single Galley If I had betrayed you I might have easilie delivered you unto Cesars hands And by that given him truelie the Victorie If I had essaied to rank my self on the enemies side if the flight which I took might have been suspicious to you I shall say your suspicions are lawfull But on the contrare my flight having been the effect of my despair and love you should complain of fortune and not accuse Cleopatra Further do not imagine that that Victorie shall either be verie Glorious to Cesar or your retrait shamfull to you You fled not from your enemies you but followed Cleopatra Your Souldiers were conquered by Cesar but you was onlie by love If this Battle had been the first occasion of War wherein you had been found your Valior might have been questioned but it is so Universallie known that none are ignorant of it There are almost no People among whom you have not given proof of your courage in the beginning of your Youth And certainlie you must have given manie because the great Julius Cesar choise you to command the left wing of his armie in the famous Battle of Pharsalia and in a day whereon the conquest of the Empire of all the World depended And moreover Octavius knows sufficientlie that you are skilfull in the art of fighting and conquering That Battle which you gained against Cassius will not permit him to doubt And less also the Victorie you had of Brutus When at this time it may be said that you have overcome Octavius his Conquerours Because you know that he lost the Battle some daies before and baselie fled in presence of these whom you soon after did overcome But with this difference that Love caused your flight and perhaps fear made his You â—ee then my dear Anthonie that you are conquered without disgrace and that your enemies has overcome without honor And moreover our affairs are not yet desperate you have a strong Armie near Actium which is not yet under Cesars Colours My Kingdoms have also men monie fortified places and I wish that all my Subjects may loss to the last drop of their blood to preserve yours and your libertie But in fine when fortune shall unjustlie take from you these Crowns which your merit and valiour have gained by force Know that Cleopatras love shall not diminish No my dear Anthonie when that enemie of Illustrious Persons shall reduce us to live under a Cotage of Straw in some place remote from the Societie of the World I shal have for you the same passion that I had in that blessed hour wherein you gave Kingdoms And wherein twentie two Kings were to be seen in your Train Think not then that misfortune can fright me there is but one which I can never suffer with you And doubtless which you also will not endure Yes Cleopatra can be exiled with Anthonie and not complain She can Renounce all the Splendour of Royalitie and yet preserve her desires of life but bondage is that which she can never endure and which she knows you will not suffer no more then she Be then assured that so far from having intelligence with Cesar I give you my promise to die rather then trust to him or put my self in hazard of serving his Triumph No Anthonie Cleopatra shall never carrie Chains â— And if fortune be so perverse to her that she can have no way to choose but that of Rome or of Death The surrendering of her life shall justifie your love to her and her innocencie But before we come to that extream remedie let us do all things to resist our enemies Let us preserve life so long as we can without shame For in fine it should not be indifferent to us while we love each other perfectlie My dear Anthonie I perceive me thinks by your eyes that my discourse hath not been unprofitable They tell me that your heart repents of having unjustlie suspected me That it sees my innocencie as pure as it is and that the love it has for me is so great that it forebears not yet to love the person who robbed your hands of the Victorie For me my dear Anthonie you shall alwayes be my strongest and last passion I do acknowledge that in the time I did not know you Julius Cesars glorie did touch my heart And that I could not hinder my self from loving a man who over all the Earth passed for the first or Mortals A man I say whom you formerlie judged worthie the Empire of all the World Because you gave him his first honour by putting a Diadem upon his head in the middle of Rome and who after his death by a brave and Heroick Oration which you made to the Roman People caused him be set up amongst the gods Who chased Brutus and Cassius burned their Places And Signalised your Courage and Friend ship But since the time I have seen you I can assure you that you have soveraignlie reigned in my Soul and shall reign there continuallie It is an Empire which fortune hath not given you and which being without its domination shall ever be yours in spight of its unjustice It may overturn Kingdoms and Empires but it shall never change my heart And whatever doth usuallie destroy the strongest affections shall but fortifie mine And to testifie to you that I can love better then you I will not suspect your Friendship of anie weakness Yes Anthonie I do believe that although Cleopatra hath caused all your misfortunes she shall ever make all your happiness and that without repenting you of having ever loved her she shall alwayes reign in your heart as you do in hers Let us go then my dear Anthonie Let us go to Alexandria to do our last Endeavours to conquer those who have overcome us it is there where perhaps we shal yet find wherewithall to subdue the insolence of our enemies But if it come to pass that Heaven hath resolved our Ruine that fortune become constant to persecute as that hope be absolutlie denyed us that all your friends
said that love was a shamfull passion when its object was honest On the contrare I thought it a sign of great Spirits because all the Horces of antiquitie were capable of it I thought I say that when this passion reignes in a Generous Soul it inspires it with new desires of acquireing Glorie Nevertheless I plainlie see that this is not the Emperours nor the Senates opinion And that I am deceived in my conjectures Had you chosen for the object of your love a person absolutlie unworthie of you their complaints should be more tollerable and I should merit the treatment I receive if I had in fused any baise or shamefull thought in the Soul of Titus but if I be not mistaken they cannot reproach you of having made an Alliance too unequall Alexander thought that he did nothing against his own Glorie when he Married Roxana though she was both a Captive and Stranger And that error which love caused him commit hindered not the noise of his Victories from coming to us Nor his being ranked among the most Illustrious Heroes The fault which you are reproached off hath nothing comparable to that For in fine you know I am Mariamnes grand-Daughter I have all the ancient Kings of Judea for my Predecessors and I my self do carrie a Crown which me thinks should oblidge the Senat not to treate me so cruellie Yes Titus Palestina hath had Heroes as well as Rome The Jonathanes the Davids the Solomons from whom I am come have perhaps done as brave actions as the Romules the Numa Pompiliuses or the Cesares And the Noble and Rich spoils which you took in the Temple of Jerusalem and wherewith you adorned your Triumph makes Rome too much see the Grandure and magnificence of my Fathers If I were of a blood that were enemie to the Reipublick as formerlie Sophonisba Hasdruballs Daughter was I would say that they had reason to fear that after having conquered the Generous Titus I would make my Victorie fatall to the Senate And at last cause him do actions contrare to his Authoritie But I am of a Race accustomed to receive Crowns from the Roman Emperours The great Agrippa my Father did hold the Kingdom of Lisania of Cajus his liberalitie as well as that of Chalsis whose Scepter I carrie this day The second Agrippa my Brother received the same favour from the Emperour your Father And his death made it sufficientlie known that he was not ungrate It was in your presence he lost his life having a desire to oblidge the inhabitants of Gamalia to render themselves and acknowledge Vespasians authoritie However to comfort me for his death they banish me like a Criminall They say I would overthrow the Empire And scarce can they find a corner of the Earth fart enough from Rome wherein to send me in exile Yet you know O my dear Lord that I have committed no other fault but the receiving the honor which you have done to me by giving me the Glorious Tittle of your Wife the innocent conquest that my eves made of your heart is that which makes me culpable The Romans would have you be their Captive and not mine They would I say dispose of your love and hatred as they please And choose a Wife for you according to their fancie and not according to your inclinations Moreover my dear Lord I know my tears may be suspected by them who know me not They of my enemies who will see my grief doubtless will say that I regrate the Empire as much as Titus And that Ambition hath a greater share of my Soul then Love But if you truelie love me as much as you have told me You will judge my thoughts by your own And You shall certainlie know that your person onlie causes all my sorrow as it did all my felicitie No Titus the Roman Magnificence hath not transported me The Throne which You expect Contributed nothing to the affection I have for You And the Vertues of your Soul and the love which You testified to me were the onlie things I considered when I did resolve to love You. Take then when You please a Person with whom You shall divide the Soveraign Power You shall one day have without thinking I wish her anie harme But for favours sake never divide the heart where You made me reign It is an Empire which belongs to me and which You cannot take from me without injustice You cannot my dear Titus accuse me of asking too much Because I demand nothing but what you gave me No more can you say that this heart is not in your power That Vespasian holds it in his hands That the Senate disposes of it And in fine that you are not its Master All slaves though as stronglie fettered with chains as they possiblie can enjoy this priviledge They love and hate what seems good to them And their will is as free in the Irons as if they were on the Throne Since it is so you must certainlie enjoy the same freedom and shall not resuse me the favour I ask from you You may get a Wife for the Illustrious Titus to content the Capricoes of the People But you must not give a Rivall to Berinicea She must be single in your Soul as you are in hers And though she be separated from you yet she shall ever be present in your minde If it be so I shall patientlie endure my exille But Gods can I think never to see you again No Titus it is absolutlie impossible for me my fate is inseparable from yours and though Vespasiane and the Senates authoritie doe all they can I must not quit you It would be imbecillity to abandone you you might reproachfullie say to me that fear of being male-treated made me too ready to obey the order I received for going out of Rome and in fine you might accuse me of little love But no I will contradict that thought It would be ingratitude to use it so Berinicea must not cost you the Empire Preserve it then and let her depart It is enough to her that you complain And that when you are arrived to the Crown you then call to mynd that the possession which you shall have did cost you Berinicea Truelie Titus there is some strange thing in our adventure For it should be the least thing to think that these same people who alreadie prepare themselves to acknowledge you for Master of all the Earth would be Law givers to you in an affaire of such importance to you and of so little to them And that these same persons over whom you shall have an absolute power to dispose of their fortunes and lives May not suffer you to love me Am I Wife or enemie of all the Romans Have they jealousie or hatred to me Fear they that I will prevaill with you to rebuild the walls of Jernfalem Have I interprised any thing against the common good or have I offended any of them in particular No Titus I have
not have you oppose the Emperor I will not have you acquire the Senats hatred I will not have you irritate the People against you I will not have you endeavour to make the Legions Rebel I will not have you refuse the fair Arricidea who I know is appointed for you I will not I say have you lose the Empire for love of me On the contrare I counsel and conjure you to obey the Emperor to follow the Senats advice to content the humours of the people to keep your legiones to make new conquests to receive on the Throne the too happy Arricidea and preserve the Empire which Fate promises and birth gives you But when to my prejudice you have satisfied all the World be so just as to remember that Berenicea should by your only passion If I obtain this favour from you I shall depart with some pleasure Maugre all my sorrows so far from making imprecationes against my Enemies I shall make Vowes for their felicity as I shall doe for your preservation May you then O Titus gain so many Victories as you give Battles May you Reign over your people with as much Authority as clemency May you be feared of all the Earth May you have so much Glorie 〈◊〉 you merit May your Reign be as happy as I am unfortunate In fine may you doe so many brave actions both by your excellent Vallour and rare goodness That by consent of all Nations you may one day be called The love and delight of mankind THE EFFECT OF THIS HARRANGUE THese wishes were too passionate no to be èxâ—â—ushed Titus Was as great and as much beloved as Berenicia did wish And if the since of Historie deceive me not she was his last passion according to her desires So that it may be said that she obtained all that she asked though she parted from Râ—me and abandoned Titus PANTHEA TO CYRUS THE NINTH HARRANGUE ARGUMENT PAnthea Queen of Susania being taken prisoner of War by the great Cyrus was favourablie treated in acknowledgement of which courtesie she obliedged Abdradates her Hushand to for sake the Lydeane partie and joyn his Armes with those of this invincible Conqueror But that mightie man of War to signalise his gratitude and courage asked permission from Cyrus to fight in the advance guards in the day of Battle That glorious favour being granted to him he did prodigious things and so little spared himself that he gained the Battle and loft his life His body was brought back all covered with wounds to â—he inconsolable Panthia And Cyrus having gone to comfort her or rather to hear a part of her affliction for a loss equal to them both this sorrowâ—â—ll Princess spoke to him in these words PANTHEA TO CYRUS YOu see O Great aâ—â— Generous Cyrus what the Victorie hath cost you Abdradates hath been the Victime which has made the Gods Propitious to you His Bloud hath dyed the Laurels which are wreathed about your head He is dead in Crowning of you And to speak trulie of the matter Cyrus and Panthea are rather the cause of his death then the Lydeans Valor Yes Cyrus your Generositie his gratitude and mine have put him in the deplorable condition that he is in You see him all covered with his own bloud and with that of your enemies The great manie wounds he hath received over all his bodie are certaine proof of what he gave to them who fought him His mightie Courage changed that of the Aegyptians into despair And that Illustrious hand which they have almost separated from his arm alace what an object to Panthea makes it sufficientlie seen that he quitted not his armes but by quitting his life He was seen Generous Cyrus fight with such Ardencie that it was said that the gaining of that Battle ought to put the Crown of the World upon his head He hath retributed the obligations I had from you with his person his blood and his life And in this manner O invincible Cyrus as I have told you alreadie your Generositie his Gratitude and mine have caused his death and my miserie However I do not accuse you I am too just to do that On the contrate I thank you kindlie for offering your assistance to comfor me I praise in you O Cyrus that Generous sentiment which makes your shed tears the verie day of your Victorie And which makes you greive more for the death of your freind then rejoice for the gaining of the Battle and defaiting all your enemies But after I have done your Vertue this justice suffer me without either accusing you or repenting me to complain of the rig our of my fate which owing the preservation of my honour to you would oblidge me my self to expose my dear Abdradates to a fight where multitudes made him Succumb It was onlie for the love of me that he abandoned Cresus forces For though he had just enough cause not to serve him the memorie of the dead King his Father who loved him dearlie made him not abandone the Son though less Vertuous But I no sooner made my obligations from you known to him then he freelie offered to acquitt me with you for so sensible an obligation Your fame had formerlie disposed his heart to consent to what I asked And having alreadie esteemed you infinitlie it was easie for him to love you In fine Cyrus you know he testified at that time great Gratitude to you and great love to me No said he to me Generous Panthea Abdradates cannot be your Protectors enemie He hath dried up your tears and I must spend my blood in his service he hath been carefull of your glorie and my Valour must increase his He hath lost a man whom he verie much loved by Protecting you I ought to repaire that loss And if it be possible not let it be perceived in the day of Battle that Araspes is not there Yes said he to me a loud I shall loss my life or I shall testifie to Cyrus that they who receive benefits as they ought are some times as generous as they who give them Wo is me Must I tell it I never gain-said this discourse And without apprehending any fatall Event from so Noble an Intention I praised his resolution and designe I thanked him for that which was to become the cause of my supream misfortune contributing to my own unhappiness I excited his courage to do thins which have caused his death to day And yet which will make him live Eternallie O cruell Remembrance O injustice of Fortune of all the Conquerours why should Abdradates onlie been overcome And having so profitably shed his blood for gaining of the Battle why should he almost have been the onlie one who enjoyed not the Fruits of the Victorie But it was not in this encounter alone that I contributed to my own Disaster So great was my blindness that I expected that fatall day like a day of Triumph My spirit was filled with nothing but hope My
the same persons and though love be as ardent in their hearts as it was before their marriage Yet their opinons are different in manie occasions They have more soliditie and less affection And none of all these follies which criminall loves do produce are to be found in their Souls So my Lord if Paulinus had had a passion for me he would have keeped the present which I made him with care and with jealousie Since it is most certain that in this kind of illegittimate affections which I never heard spoken of since I have been at Court the least things that comes from the person beloved are inestimable Treasures which are never parted from but with the life However Paulinus no sooner received my present but he sent it to you And in that occasion it may be said that he designed more to please you then to content me For me my Lord I never thought you could take it ill that I should have given a triviall thing which you gave me And that liberalitie was a vertue which I ought not to practise For my Lord if I ought to give nothing but what I have not received from you I must give my self Having brought nothing into your Palace but that simplicitie and innocence which some would ravish me of to day Why my Lord do your not remember that by the innumerable riches that you have given me I have diverse times enriched severall whole Towns Why my Lord Theodosius hath permitted me to give Gold Pearls and Diamonds to a hundered people who were unknown to him And could I have foreseen that he would have been dissatisfied with my giving a simple fruit to the man in the World who had most profitable served him and for whom he had most affection No my Lord that was not possible And the wise Pulcheria howsoever clear sighted she is and is believed to be and who foresees things from a far had been deceived in it But my Lord if I ought to take care of anie nixt to your Majestie it should be of Paulinus And if I dare say it I owe more to him then to my Father and more then to your Majestie For my Father gave me nothing but life and having received nothing from you but the Throne I can say Paulinus having inspired me with the lights of faith I am more oblidged to him then to all the rest of the Earth Yes my Lord I owe the saftie of my Soul to him and my eternall beatitude if the innocence of the life that I shal lead do make me obtain it You know my Lord that it was he who converted me that all your Doctors could not convince me that only he unseilled my eyes And letting me see the absurdites of my religion gained me to embrace yours Believe then my Lord that the birth of our Friendship had too holie a beginning to be criminall in its progress And that he who had opened the gates of Heaven to me would never conduct me to the waies of hell And moreover my Lord know that when Eudosia shall again be Athenais When she shall I say be again of that Religion wherein all crimes are authorised by the example of the Gods whom she adores She shall not be less innocent Chastitie is a Vertue which hath been known of all Nations and through all ages It is so essentiall to my Soul that nothing can banish it thence Judge then my Lord if being of a Religion where modestie is rewarded I could do anie thing against my dutie to you and against my dutie to my self I thing if I be not deceived that I have made you know that I might have given with out crime what you gave to me And at last that I have made you see with a similtude sufficientlie true that Paulinus his liberalitie to you Justifies mine towards him Now as to what concerns the lie that I made in telling you that I had eat the fruit it is certain that I cannot deny I would have done better to have told you the truth But my Lord all follies are not crimes When you spake to me at that time I saw such alteration in your Countenance and so much choller in your eies That fear of angering you having seised my spirit I lost my use of reason Consider my Lord that if there had been anie too particular affection between Paulinus and me Assoon as you had spoken tome I might have wel judged that you did know something And therefore by an apparent ingenuitie though artificiall I should have told you that I sent it to Paulinus But having nothing in my minde that objected anie error I told an innocent lye not fearing it was evillie explained I failled through fear of being accused of a fault And a too fearfull affection hath made me loss yours Further my Lord being unprepared for that accusation and being ignorant of the crime that I am accused for I then answered you onlie with tears My silence and respect were the onlie colours that I employed for my justification A too scrupulous too austere Vertue made me believe that I would stain my self by vindicating me of such a thing And I also think that I should never have spoken to you if I had not designed to separate from you But venerable Emperour I reprehend my self for all I have said you are not the Subject of my disgrace I accuse you no more I receive it as the chastisement of my past errors I have too much defended the cause of Idolls to gain nâ—y own to day And it is verie just having so eagerlie maintained a lie that I be not believed when I speak a truth that is of importance to me I have sacrificed too much to Jupiter and have offered too manie criminall Victimes not to expiat that fault by some innocent sacrifice I my self must be my Victime at this time And by patient suffering merit the pardon of my past errours My Lord do not think that I bear anie grudge in my Soul I well see that I whereas the journey I am going to make was undertaken by my own will I well see I say that the permission which is given me was consented to in such manner that I may rather call it a place of banishment then of pilgramage However that shall not hinder me from praying to GOD that the blood of Paulinus be not an obstacle to the felicitie of your dayes I shall also make vowes for the prudent Pulcherias Reign Whose pietie doubtless doth approve of the place I have chosen for my retirment I shall be more profitable to her at Jerusalem then at Constantinople And perhaps more agreeable But in acknowledgement of the last obligations I had from her I shall begg of Heaven to give her such repose as I go to enjoy in my solitude Though perhaps this is not the favour that she askes from it in her praiers Further my Lord I go not so far off that fame may not speak of me