of Spaine The end of perfect beautie and of grace A royall hart that euer doth maintaine Valour and bountie in a vertuous race That looke so modest and so sweete againe Adorned with so faire and milde a face Giuès Lady Anne of Aragon such fame That Loue himselfe is captiue to her name Her sister Lady Bettrice that you see Is next if that you can behold such light Whom none can praise for this is onely shee Whom none can praise according to her right That Painter that did make her so must bee Her praiser and her giftes he must reeite For where all humane wit cannot attaine My poore conceite doth labour there in vaine The Lady Frances of great Aragon Shew you I vvould but she is alvvaies hid Her svveetest beauties leaues not any one With life for so her starlike eies forbid Our mortall sight to vievv the same alone In life and death her vertues euer did Subiect each hart to loue and admiration As fame can tell in euery forrain nation Now Lady Magdalene you may reueale Sister vnto those three which I haue showne Behold her well and see how she doth steale Her gazers harts and subiect liues to none Her peerelesse beautie threats and in a chaine Leades little Cupid turn'd into a stone None see her but they die and none there ar But she doth conquer without armes or war Those two bright stars that heere and there doe vaunt Their shining beames that dim the starrie skie And making that illustrous house of Gaunt In all the world with high renowne to flie This day their wisedome and their beauties daunt Each humane thought and euery mortall eie For who sees Magdeline and Marguerite That doth not die for loue at such a sight But will you see the thing that hath vndone All wits and made them all to wonder so Behold a Nymph more faire then orient sunne Or louely rose or lilly hard by Po This Phoenix name that through the world doth runne Is Lady Caterine Milane for so Valencia cals her and the world doth say She is as faire and wise as liues this day Lift vp your eies faire Nymphes and now behold The Lady Mary Pexon çannoguere How by the riuer banks her locks of gold She kembes adorning of her shining heare Whose beautie wisedome and braue giftes are told For rarest in our Europe euery wheare Behold her eies her faire and Cristalline face Her sweete demeanour and her heauenly grace Those two behold the rest that doe excell Inperfect wisedome and in quicke conceate And for braue beautie beare away the bell A paire sans peere whose starlike eies doe threate Despaire and death to those that view them well For there sits Cupid in his proper seate Their blessed names doe with their nature fit Faire Bettrice Vigue and Bettrice Fenollir What time Diana went to sport and play With her most soueraine face and more diuine Amorning star arose in moneth of May Like to that Star that neere the Moone doth shine Which when she sawe so glorious euery way A famous place to her she did a ssigne Her beauties tell you if her name you seeke That she 's the peerelesse Lady Anna Vigue Faire Nymphes behold the Lady Theodore Carroz that is great Lady and the Queene Of such braue beautie neuer seene before Wisedome and grace as like was neuer seene Each thing of hers enamours more and more The brauest mens deserts haue neuer beene Such as they durst attempt or euer sought By them to place in her an amorous thought See Shepherdes Lady Angelas braue grace Of Borja looking on Diana bright And how to her the Goddesse turnes her face To view those eies that all eies doe inuite And mightie Loue himselfe weeping apace And how the Nymph derides his conquer'd might And laughes to see the cruell Tyrant lying Wrapped in chaines to her for mercy crying Of that most famous stocke of çannoguere A flowre sprung out so perfect and so pure That liuing yet but yong she neede not feare Any that may her beauties blaze obscure Her mothers heire she is for she doth beare The praise which she did with her giftes procure So hath Lady Hieronyma you see In grace and wit obtain'd the high'st degree Now in a wonder Nimphes will you remaine And see what fortune gaue to her alone How wisedome beautie and the goodly traine Of vertues make in her the chiefest throne Lady Veronica Marrades see againe For onely by her figure it is knowne That she hath all and nothing wants to serue her Vnlesse it be that none can well deserue her The Lady Luise Penaroje we see In more then humane beautie and in grace In euery thing most excellent is shee All beauties els she staines and gaineâ—…pace Loue dies for her and he will not agree That any should behold so sweete a face Who sees it dies vnlesse he see it againe And seene it then his sight augments his paint Now see I Nymphes that you are seeing her On whom my thoughts continually deuise And yours perforce from her can never stirre Cupid for robs and in her loue he dies See how her beauties make the world to erre See but beware such light blinde not your eies The Lady Iane Cardona that faire star It is to whom loues powres subiected 〈◊〉 That beautie which exceedeth humane thought Which you doe see if that you can behold it She whose estate was blest esteeming nought Of fortune time or chaunce that could enfold it She to the world that such rare giftes hath brought She that 's my Muse and Parnasus vntold yet Lady Ione Anne of Catalane The end She is of all that e're I did commend Neere vnto her there is a great extreme In purest vertue high and sublimate In comely grace the fairest in this Realme Her golden haire her necke most delicate Each gracious eie a firie pointed beame A noble wit and name of heauens estate The Lady Angela Fernando named Whom nature to her name like gifts hath framed Next to her sits the Lady Marian Who hath not in the world her paragon Neere to her sister fairer then the swan In cristall streames or fine Vermillion Proud is our age of both of them that can In tender yeeres haue no comparison For wisedome for so much they may presume As thousand toongs can tell or golden plume The two fine sisters Borjas which you see Hyppolita and Isabell so faire With grace and giftes that so adorned lee That Phebus brightest beames they doe empaire And see how many liues that once were free Their beauties conquers Cupids onely snare Behold their haire their countenance and eies This gold that sweete and those like stars in skies Behold the Lady Mary Cannoguere Who wow is Lady of sure Catarasse Whose beautie and sweete grace doth euery where Conqueâ—… 〈◊〉 with vnrepaired losse Fame on her wings â—…row out the world doth beare Her vertues rare that shine like gold to drosse Since each one them that
good but iust no more Then it is meete for them to haue Fauours I craue by heapes of thee That thou wouldst giue me Shepherdesse But yet perhaps they may kill me For little force I doe possesse It hurts the driest field and meade As much to cast in them great plentie Of water as if they lay deade Of water and of moisture emptie So fauours in the selfesame sort If that they haue no rule nor measure Suffice to make ones life more short As wel as scornes hates and displeasure But in the end and howsoeuer Take thy full ioy although I die Whether it be with death for euer Or with my life I care not I. Mocke and with me doe what thou list And happen will what happen may My will thy will shall not resist But thy commaund shall still obay Commaund me then to be thy loue Commaund me in thy loue to end And he that rules and is aboue All harts commaund thy hart to bend Since mightie Loue commaunds my hart Of force thy louer I must bee Ioine thou with loue and take his part Then all the world shall honour thee But I haue written to be plaine Enough since thou hast not thy fill By giuing me continuall paine Desiring yet to serue thee still But in the end now will I cease Although my torment doth not end Desire is conquerd by the feare I haue thy patience to offend When Syrenus had made an end of reading this letter the Shepherd tooke it out of his hands without staying any longer went his waies singing That which he sung whilest they could heare him giuing great eare vnto him was to the purpose of that which he had told them before he shewed them the letter A Sonnet I Plaid with Loue Loue plaid with me againe I mocked him but I was mockt in deede He would not let my hart his art exceede For though a Boy yet mocks he doth disdaine A friend he is to those that doe not faine My iestes it seemes doe true affection breede And now if Loue is not reuenged with speede My hart can witnes that with earnest paine Goe louers then to iest it out apace With this God Cupid but a boy and blinde And you shall see if it be good or noe Thinking to haue delight you shall haue woe Seeking cold water fire you shall finde Who plaies with boies comes often to disgrace They maruelled not a little at the sweetenes of his song were no lesse sorrie bicause they knew not what Shepherd he was but seeing it was not then possible to know him they went on their nighest waies Some haste they made to passe away the heate of the day in that Iland where they found the desperate Shepherdesse Belisa taking the same to be a more fresh and pleasant place and more quiet for their recreation then any other Whereunto being come they saw how a little brooke couered almost all ouer with sweet and smelling herbs ranne gently thorow a little greene meadow amongst a ranke of diuers trees that were nourished and maintained by the cleere water vnder the shadowes of which as they were now determined to rest themselues Syrenus said Let vs see if you thinke good from whence this little spring doth issue foorth It may be the place is more fresh and cooler thereabouts if not or if we cannot finde out the fountaine from whence it flowes we will come hither againe It liked his company well and so they desired him to leade the way Euerie place and part that all the brooke vpwards they troad on inuited them to pleasant rest being all alike to the verie fountaine whereupon Seluagia said If we cannot finde out the beginning of this spring we shall not finde at the least any discontent for our selues or suffer any trouble in returning backe againe since so conuenient places as better and more pleasant we cannot wish for our desired rest in going vp higher are offered vnto vs. Hauing now gone vp a little along the running brooke and not found out the head and that euerie step as I said presented vnto them a pleasant place of rest they went staying somtimes somtimes reasoning with themselues where they might sit one of them saying This place is more fresh and another answering no but this let vs sit downe heere for this is more pleasant no but here said another So that the pleasant obiect of euerie place held them in such suspence that none of them could choose out the best But resoluing at the last vpon one they tooke the scrips of their shoulders and passing their sheepehookes from their left hands they tooke them in their right to lay them downe to rest when they saw that with greater quantitie of waters and fresher shades of green trees the brooke ranne vp higher so that for a new hope a new aire and place was obiected to them They had not yet scarce begun to goe vp a little farther when the brooke forsaking her right course towardes the left hand made them turne their steps backe againe where they discouered a great thicket and spring of diuers trees Comming to the which they saw a very narrow entrance and somwhat long whose sides were not of wals fabricated by artificiall hand but made of trees by nature the mistresse of all things so that the wooddy place was no lesse enobled and imbelished with the naturall verdure then the stately chambers with embossed gold For there was seene the deadly Cypresse the triumphant Laurell the hard Oke the low sallow the inuincible palme the blacke and ruggie Elme the Oliue the prickie Chestenut the high Pineapple one amongst another whose bodies were bound about with greene Iuie and the fruitfull vine and beset with sweet Iesmines many other redolent flowers that grew very thicke togither in that place Amongst the which many little birds inhabitants of that wood went leaping from bough to bough as in scornefull cages making the place more pleasant with their sweete and siluer notes The trees were in such order set togither that they denied not the golden sunbeames to haue an entrance in betweene the boughes and leaues to paint forth the greene ground with diuers colours which reuerberated from the flowers that were neuer steadie in one place by reason that the mooueable leaues did disquiet them This narrow way did also lead to a little greene couered all ouer with fine grasse and not touched with the hungrie mouthes of deuouring flockes At the side of it was the fountaine of the brooke hauing a care that that place should not drie vp sending forth on euerie side her flowing waters The water of this cleere fountaine came out of a stony rocke which a great Oke with his hard rootes did imbrace on either side whereof stood two great Laurell trees This fountaine did rise towards that place where the sunne beginnes to mount declining somewhat to the septentrionall part The same rockie stone whereby the water ranne out
it for a speciall fauour at thy hands The Gods keepe thee in their protection Then she opened the letter that Disteus sent to her to the graue style and iudicious conceate whereof I praie you Gentlemen giue an attentiue eare Disteus his letter to Dardanea TO thee the comfort of all mortall men Of all men liuing the most comfortlesse Health if discomfort any such can send If any left doth send with happinesse I wish no ease of all my ceaselesse paine If that a thousand times when I did take In hand to write to thee I left againe My pen as oft when hand and hart did quake I launch't into the maine and broadest seas Knowing no port nor friendly land or coast To saile vnto my shaken barke to ease With raging waues and furious tempests tost For on the one side if I thought to write To make thee knowe my paine which thou hast wrought Thy high desertes on th' other came in sight To beate downe such a far vnwoorthy thought My wearied torments did commaund an I Thy souer aine highnes did for bid a No And that commaund with reason did denie Such woorthinesse and glorie it did showe But after this proud boldnes came in place Perswading me I should doe well before To write to thee But feare did him disgrace And said I should but anger thee the more And therefore now as feare did ouer come Braue boldnes and had throwne it to the ground And now that all my senses waxed numme By feare which did my feeble hope confound Couragiously the God of Loue came in And said vnwoorthy feare packe hence away And come no more for now thou shalt not win I doe commaund Loue doth commaund I say And turning to me in this sort he saide As by commaund nor gently by request The fire when once it is in flames displaide Hides not it selfe but makes it manifest Euen so it is impossible to hide My firie flames from being sometimes knowne And though I would not yet on euery side They issue out that easily they are knowne Since then thy Nymph celestiall must knowe Either too soone or late thy cruell flame Let first thy mouth declare to her thy woe Then to thy hand and pen commend the same I answered God wot with fainting hart To write to her it is my chiefe desire But if she chaunce to frowne at this bold part O God defend my pen should cause her ire Thus Loue at last perceiuing what a faint And hartlesse coward I was in the end He wrote to thee by pitying of my plaint And in my name Loue doth this letter send And now bicause thy minde it may not mooue To anger by receiuing of the same And if thou think'st thy honour I doe prooue Knowe from a God and from no man it came Euen from the God of Loue who is a God Of highest birth whose power doth extend In heauen and earth where he makes his abode Both paying tribute to him without end So that it is the mighty God of Loue That erres if that in writing he doth erre Against Loue therefore all thy anger mooue If this to wrath thy modest minde may stirre Harke well my deerest Mistresse what I say That if this letter breedeth thy offence Be thou reueng'd of Loue which did assay To write and not of me for this pretence But by the way I tell thee as a friend That if with Loue thou dost begin to striue With nature and her lawes thou dost contend For making thee the fairest one aliue For if she haue of purpose giuen thee Beautie and grace and in thy brest hath fram'd The onely patterne of gentilitie That beauties Paragon thou maist be nam'd And to lay vp her riches all in one Of all her treasure she hath now despoild The world and made it poore in leauing none And to make thee the onely one hath toild Hath she not reason then to be offended If by the gemme where she her vtmost tride She would haue seene and knowne how far extended Her passing skill which thou dost seeke to hide Hath she not reason to be angrie when The patterne of her skill and onely one Hides from the world and buries in a den Her treasures which so faine she would haue knowne For sure I knowe if that thou meanest not To loue thou buriest all her partes in thee And dost thou thinke that anything is got By flying Loue and natures best decree And if thou think'st heerein to doe amisse Or hurt thy selfe by louing yet at lest Suffer thy selfe to be belou'd And this Fond error driue out of thy tender brest O suffer of thine owne accord and will For forced thou shalt be to this for euer While thou and I doe liue and shalt be still After thy death and mine and ended neuer Then will me not Dardanea to forsake My perfect loue which now I haue bewraied For more thou dost commaund the lesse I make Account of it and lesse shalt be obaied And thinke thou art not wronged any whit Bicause what thou faire Mistresse dost commaund Is not obaide for heere it is not fit Where life for loue and loue for life is pawn'd Leaue thou if that thou canst the same thou hast Yeelding to nature what so much on thee She hath bestowde and change thy life that 's past And leaue moreouer what thou mean'st to be Then shalt thou see thy most vniust desire Fulfill'd and will perform'd without defect Although thou didst the contrarie require As fearing colours with some vaine suspect But now why should'st thou leaue a perfect being By taking that which more imperfect is As first mens eies the like was neuer seeing The second voide of comfort ioy and blisse So that sweete Mistresse it becomes thee not To anger Loue and Nature to offend For thou art bound whom they haue not forgot Their lawes to loue their essence to defend Since that thy beauties in the world resound And dost in vertue hold the highest place And dost in knowledge and in wit abound In modestie and euery other grace Make them illustrous then by thy requiting Take heede Ingratitude is full of hate Hate to reuenge is euer more inuiting And so reuenge waites at obliuions gate And thinke not that I speake these wordes in iest For to a cruell Goddesse it belongs This vice which all the world doth so detest To punish and torment ingratefull wrongs And Nemesis the angrie is her name Whose vnresisted might who doth not knowe Equall she is and neuer but the same Impartially to deale with friend or foe Alas I would she might not finde in thee So great a fault as none more great then this Since from all other faultes thou shalt be free If but this fault alone thou wilt dismisse But thou maist say why should thy haplesse fare Trouble my minde or thy good please my will Or what haue I to doe to take such care Whether thy fortune fallout good or ill To
these effects should arise And so they inuented the name of Loue calling him a God bicause he was of many nations and people feared and reuerenced and painted him in such sort that whosoeuer sawe his figure had great reason to abhorre his fashions They painted him like a Boy bicause men might not put their trust in him Blinde bicause they might not followe him Armed bicause they might feare him with flames of fire bicause they might not come neere him and with wings because they might knowe him vaine and inconstant Thou must not vnderstande faire Shepherdesse that the power which men attribute to Loue is or may be any waies his But thou must rather beleeue that the more they magnifie his might and valour the more they manifest their weaknes and simplicitie For in saying that Loue is strong is to affirme that their will is weake by suffering it so easily to be ouercommed by him To saie that Loue with mightie violence doth shoote mortall and venemous arrowes is to include that their harts are too secure carelesse when that so willingly they offer themselues to receiue them To say that Loue doth streightly captiuate their soules is to inferre that there is want of iudgement and courage in them when at the first bruntes they yeelde nay when sometimes without any combate they surrender their libertie into their enimies hands and finally all the enterprises which they tell of Loue are nothing else but matter of their miseries and arguments of their weakenes All which force and prowesse admit to be his yet are they not of such qualitie that they deserue any praise or honour at all For what courage is it to take them prisoners that are not able to defend themselues What hardines to assaile weake and impotent creatures What valour to wounde those that take no heede and thinke least on him What fortitude to kill those that haue alreadie yeelded themselues What honour with cares to disturbe those that are mery and ioyfull What woorthie deede to persecute vnfortunate men Truely faire Shepherdesse they that would so much extoll and glorifie this Cupid and that so greatly to their cost serue him should for his honour giue him better praises For the best name that amongst them all he gets is to be but a cowarde in his quarrels vaine in his pretences liberal of troubles and couetous in rewards Al which names though of base infamie they sauour yet are those woorse which his affectionate seruants giue him calling him fire furie and death terming Louing no better then to burne to destroy to consume and to make themselues fooles and naming themselues blinde miserable captiues madde inflamed and consumed From hence it comes that generally all complaine of Loue calling him a Tyrant a Traytour vnflexible fierce and vnpitifull All Louers verses are full of dolour compounded with sighes blotted with teares and sung with agonies There shalt thou see suspicions there feares there mistrustes there iealousies there cares and there all kindes of paines There is no other speech amongst them but of deathes chaines darts poysons flames and other things which serue not but to giue torments to those that emploie their fancies in it and feare when they call vpon it Herbanius the Shepherde famous in Andolozia was troubled too much with these termes when in the barke of a Poplar with a sharp bodkin insteed of his pen in presence of me wrote these verses following HE that in freedome iets it proude and braue Let him not liue too carelesse of himselfe For in an instant he may be a slaue To mighty Loue and serue that wanton elfe And let that hart that yet was neuer tamed Feare at the last by him to be inflamed For on that soule that proudly doth disdaine His heauie lawes and liues with loftie will Fierce Loue is woont t' inflict a cruell paine And with most sharpe and dire reuenge to kill That who presumes to liue without his power In death he liues tormented euery hower O Loue that dost condemne me to thy iaile Loue that dost set such mortall coles on fire O Loue that thus my life thou dost assaile Intreated ill tormented by thine ire Hencefoorth I curse thy chaines thy flames thy dart Wherewith thou bind'st consum'st and kill'st my hart And now let vs come to Syrenus Sonnet whereby he seemes to make men beleeue that the imagination of Loues enterprises sufficeth to ouercome the furie of the torment For if his operations be to kill to wound to make blind to burne to consume to captiuate and to torment he shall neuer make me beleeue that to imagine things of paine doth lighten the griefe which must rather as I thinke giue greater force and feeling to the passion For when it is more in imagination it remaineth longer in his heart and with greater paine torments it And if that be true which Syrenus did sing I much maruell that he receiuing so deepe a taste in this thought hath now so easily changed it by meanes of so cruell obliuion not onely of loues operations but also of thy beautie which ought not for any thing in the world to be forgotten Alcida had scarce finished these last words when Diana lifting vp her eies for she suspected somewhat perceiued her husband Delius comming downe from the side of a little hill bending his steps towards the fountaine of the Sicamours where they were togither whereupon cutting off Alcidas discourse she said vnto her No more gentle Shepherdesse no more for we will finde fitter time hereafter to heare out the rest and to answer thy weake and common arguments For behold my husband is comming downe yonder hill towards vs and therefore I thinke it best to turne our talke to some other matter and with the tune of our instruments to dissemble it and so let vs begin to sing bicause when he is come neere vnto vs he may not be displeased at the manner of our conuersation whereupon Alcida taking her Cytern and Diana her Bagpipe began to sing as followeth Prouencall Rythmes Alcida WHile Titan in his Coach with burning beames Ouer the world with such great force doth ride That Nymphes and their chaste companies abide In woods and springs and shallowe shadowed streames And while the prating grashopper replies Her song in mourning wise Shepherdesse sing So sweete a thing That th' heauens may bee By hearing thee Made gentle on their owne accord to power Vpon this meade a fresh and siluer shower Diana Whiles that the greatest of the Planets staies Iust in the mids betweene the East and west And in the field vpon the mowers brest With greater heate doth spread his scorching raies The silent noise this pleasant fountaine yeeldes That runs amids these fieldes Such musicke mooues As woonder prooues And makes so kinde The furious winde That by delight thereof their force they stay And come to blowe as gently as they may Alcida You running riuers pure and christalline That all the yeere doe make
if thy sorrowes greeue me not let me neuer haue end of mine and in such sort that as soone as Diana was about to marry if it killed not my hart with thinking that her marriage and thy death should haue bene both at one time let me neuer enioy any other estate and condition of life then now I doe Canst thou then thinke Syrenus that I would wish thee ill bicause Diana loued thee And that the fauours that she did thee were the occasions to make me hate thee What man my faith was neuer so basely poysed but that it was euer so seruiceable to my Mistresse humour not onely in louing thee but in louing and honouring all that euer she loued And yet thou hast no cause to thanke me for this care and compassion of thy greefe for I am so dissolued into cares that for mine owne good I would be sorie how much more then for other mens harmes This straunge kinde of the Shepherd Syluanus his greeting caused no small admiration in Syrenus and made him for a while in suspence with himselfe woondring at his great sufferance and at the strange qualitie of his loue that he did beare to his Shepherdesse But remembring himselfe at last he said Hast thou Syluanus happily bene borne for an example of patience to those who know not how to suffer the aduersities that fortune puts before their eies Or may it be that nature hath giuen thee so strong a minde that it is not ynough for thee to suffer thine owne but thou wilt needes helpe others to support theirs I see thee so conformable to the hard condition of thy fortune that promising thee no helpe of remedie thou doest aske no other then that it hath already giuen thee I tell thee Syluanus that time shewes well by thee how euery day it discouers nouelties and straunge conceites beyonde the compasse of mans imagination O how much more then ought this vnfortunate Shepherd to emulate thee by seeing thee suffer thy greefes with such content which thou mightest rather haue done to him when thou sawest him so happily enioy his merry times Hast thou not seene how greatly she fauoured me and with what sweete and gracious wordes she manifested her loue vnto me Didst thou not see how she could neuer goe with her flockes to the riuer or take her lambes out of the folde or in the heate of the day driue her sheepe into the shades of these Sicamours without my companie But for all this I wish I may neuer see the remedie of my greefe if I euer expected or desired any thing at Dianas hands that was repugnant to her honour or if any such thing did euer passe my thought For such was her beautie her braue minde her vertue and such vnspotted puritie in her loue to me againe that they admitted no thought into my minde which in preiudice of her goodnes and chastitie I might haue imagined I beleeue it well saide Syluanus sighing for I can say as much by my selfe and thinke moreouer that there was neuer any that casting his eies on Dianas peerelesse beautie durst desire any other thing then to see her and to conuerse with her Although I knowe not whether such rare and excellent beautie might in some mens thoughts not subiect to such a continent affection as ours cause an excessiue desire and especially if they had seene her as I did one day sitting with thee neere to you little brooke when she was kembing her golden haire and thou holding the glasse vnto her wherein now and then she beheld her diuine figure though neither of you both did perhaps knowe that I espied you from those high bushes neere to the two great okes keeping yet in minde the verses that thou sungest vpon the holding of the glasse whiles she was addressing her resplendant tresses How came they to thy handes saide Syrenus The next day following saide Syluanus in that very place I founde the paper wherein they were written and reading them committed them to memorie And then came Diana thither weeping for the losse of them and asking me if I had found them which was no small ioy and contentment to me to see my Mistresse powre foorth those teares which I might speedily remedie And this I remember was the first hower that euer I had a gentle and curteous word of her mouth how greatly in the meane time stood I neede of fauours when she saide vnto me that I might highly pleasure her to helpe her to that which so earnestly she sought for which wordes like holy relikes I kept in my minde for in a whole yeere after I tooke no regarde of all the woes and greefes that I passed for ioy of that one onely word which had in it but a small apparance of ioy and happinesse Now as thou louest thy life saide Syrenus rehearse those verses which thou saidst I did sing since thou hast them so well by hart I am content saide Syluanus and these they were FOr a fauour of such woorth In no doubt I doe remaine Since with selfe same coyne againe Mistresse thou art paide right foorth For if I enioy with free Pleasure seeing before me Face and eies where Cupid stands So thou seeing in my hands That which in thine eies I see Let not this to thee seeme ill That of thy beautie diuine Thou see'st but the figure shine And I natures perfect skill Yet a thought that 's free and set Neuer yet in Cupids net Better then the bond beholdes Though the one the liuely mouldes Th' other but the counterfet When Syrenus had heard the song out he saide to Syluanus I wish that loue gentle Shepherd with hope of impossible felicitie may remedie my greefes if there be any thing in the worlde that I would sooner choose to passe away my sorrowfull life with then in thy sweete and gracious companie and if it greeues me not now to the hart that Diana is so cruell vnto thee that she hath not which well she might haue done once thanked thee nor showen thee a fauourable and gratefull countenance for all thy long and loyall seruice and for so true loue that thou hast shewed therein I could with a little content me saide Syluanus sighing if my angrie fortune would perswade Diana to giue me some hope which she might well affoord without staine to her honour or breach of faith to thee But so hard harted is she that not onely when I craue it she denies it me and flies from me when I come in her sight but to comfort me with any small signe or token whereby I might imagine or hope hereafter to enioy it she would neuer yet consent Whereupon I saide many times to my selfe It may fall out that this stonie harted and fierce Tygresse may one day conceiue some displeasure against Syrenus for reuenge whereof and to despite him she will perhaps shew me some fained fauour for so disgraced and comfortlesse a man as I am would be glad but
by the fountaine whose waters seemed with her swelling teares to increase where after she had a great while busied her selfe in diuers and sundrie thoughts she began thus to say May it be possible Alanius that thou art the man whose eies I neuer saw dried vp from teares in presence of mine And he who falling downe so many times at my feete with louing and pitifull wordes craued mercie and clemencie at my handes the which to my great harme and greefe I so gently bestowed on thee Tell me Shepherd the falsest that liues on earth is it true that thou louedst me to cloy thy minde with my fauours and so soone to be wearie of the loue that thou didst beare me Thou mightest imagine that it was no lesse in my power to forget and despise thee as thou hast forgotten me For it is the part of those that handle not their matters of loue so well as they shoulde to thinke that their Mistresses may play the like partes with them as they haue done before though some vse it for a remedie and policie to make their loue encrease the more And others that iealousie the occasion whereof most commonly they faine may so captiuate their Mistresses mindes that as they make them beleeue they are not able to settle their affection in any other place whereupon most of them come by little and little to manifest all that they fained before whereby more cleerely they discouer their disloyaltie All which extremes at last result to the greefe and preiudice of vs poore soules who not considering how the endes of such things commonly fall out doe so deepely sinke into that kinde of assured affection that we neuer leaue of to loue you nor you to requite vs with ingratitude and inconstancie as thou dost that loue disloyall Alanius which I haue borne and doe still beare thee So that which of these thou hast bene I cannot coniecture But wonder not Seluagia that thou vnderstandest so little in matters of disdaine that art so well practised in loues affaires Thou didst euer beare an honest and vertuous pretence by thy wordes whereby I neuer looked for lesse by thy deedes which made me thinke that that loue whereby thou mad'st me beleeue that thy desire extended to wish no more of me then pure loue againe should neuer haue an end for if any further drift had bene in thy desires I woulde neuer haue suspected firmnesse in thy loue O wretched woman how soone haue I begun to know thy intentions and yet how late to preuent my harmes Come thou to me my pretie Bagpipe and with thee will I passe the time away for had I spent it onely in thy exercise and delight it had bene better for me and after she had plaied a while on it she began to sing this Sextine following WAters that fall from top of these steepe Hils With such a noyse into these lowe deepe Vales Why thinke you not of those which from my Soule Continually distill my wearied Eies And what 's the cause of them Vnluckie Time In which hard fortune robbed all my Ioy. Loue gaue me hope of such a golden Ioy That ther 's no Shepherdesse in all these Hils That had such cause to praise a happy Time But after he did put me in these Vales Of swelling teares that fall from both mine Eies Not to behold such greefe as kils my Soule Such is the paine that wounds a louing Soule That in the end I know what thing is Ioy O where shall I then turne my wearied Eies If that the medowes woods the plaines and Hils The pleasant groues and fountaines of the Vales Still to my thoughts present so sweete a Time Who would haue thought that such a happy Time Should be so fierce a torment to my Soule Or cruell fortune banish me the Vale Wherin all things were obiects of my Ioy Vntill the hungrie woolfe which to the Hill Ascending vp was pleasant to mine Eies But fortune now what may my drenched Eies Behold which saw their Shepherd many a Time Driuing his lambes before him downe this Hill Whose name for ay shall rest within my Soule O fortune foe vnto my former Ioy How doe I languish in this irkesome Vale But when so pleasant and so fresh a Vale Is not delightfull to my wearied Eies And where I cannot finde content and Ioy And hope not now to haue it any Time See what extremes enuiron then my Soule O that he came againe O that sweete Hill O highest Hils and fresh and pleasant Vale Where once my Soule did rest and both these Eies Tell me shall I in Time haue so much Ioy About this time Syluanus was with his flockes in a thicket of Mirtle trees neere to the fountaine musing and imagining diuers things in his minde but when he heard Seluagias voice awaked as it were out of a slumber he gaue attentiue eare to the verses that she did sing But as this Shepherd was cruelly intreated of loue and contemned of Diana so his passions made him wander a thousand times out of his wits as that he now spake ill of loue and by and by praised it sometimes merrie and other times more pensiue and sad then the most sorrowfull man in the world to day speaking ill of women to morrow extolling them aboue all mortall creatures And thus did this sorrowfull Shepherd leade a life which as to all so especially to those that are free from loue would be tedious and difficult to describe But hauing heard Seluagias sweete verses and obtained leaue of his sad thoughts he tooke his Kit and to the tune thereof began to sing that which followeth TO heare me wearied is the cleerest riuer Tedious I am to euery vale and mountaine And now to heare O loue my sorrowes giuer My plaining wearied is each cristall fountaine The Sicamour the Oke and Elme are wearie Spring Sommer Autumne and the winter season Hearing my cries are sworne not to be merry With teares I melt these rocks and yet all reason Of pitie Tigresse thou dost still deny me When trees and stones for greefe are dying by me A bondslaue of a freeman thou hast made me And of a man of reason cleane contrarie With life and death by turnes thou dost inuade me And to tormenting greefe my soule dost carrie Of affable and one that liu'd so gayly Made me thou hast to frowards disdaining Of one that did conuerse with all men daily Made me thou hast their company refraining Eies had I once now blinded with desire I was a man of flesh but now of fire What 's this my hart thy torments dost thou double Tell me mine eies and are you still a weeping My soule sufficeth not my passed trouble My teares and are ye yet in riuers steeping My wandring wits and are you not molested More then ynough with such incessant sorrow And are ye not my senses also wrested From your right course resting not euen nor morrow How know I then weepe see
a little to heare them Twenty daies I was in going thither at the ende of which being come to the desired place I tooke vp mine Inne in a streete lest frequented with concurse of people And the great desire I had to see the destroier of my ioy did not suffer me to thinke of any other thing but how or where I might see him To inquire of him of mine host I durst not lest my comming might perhaps haue bene discouered and to seeke him foorth I thought it not best lest some inopinate mishap might haue fallen out whereby I might haue bene knowen Wherefore I passed all that day in these perplexities while night came on each hower whereof me thought was a whole yeere vnto me But midnight being a little past mine host called at my chamber doore and tolde me if I was desirous to heare some braue musicke I should arise quickly and open a window towards the street The which I did by and by and making no noise at all I heard how Don Felix his Page called Fabius whom I knew by his voice saide to others that came with him Now it is time my Masters bicause the Lady is in the gallerie ouer her garden taking the fresh aire of the coole night He had no sooner saide so but they began to winde three Cornets and a Sackbot with such skill and sweetenesse that it seemed celestiall musicke And then began a voice to sing the sweetest in my opinion that euer I heard And though I was in suspence by hearing Fabius speake whereby a thousand doubtes and imaginations repugnant to my rest occurred in my minde yet I neglected not to heare what was sung bicause their operations were not of such force that they were able to hinder the desire nor distemper the delight that I conceiued by hearing it That therefore which was sung were these verses SWeete Mistresse harken vnto me If it greeues thee to see me die And hearing though it greeueth thee To heare me yet do not denie O grant me then this short content For forc'd I am to thee to fliie My sighes do not make thee relent Nor teares thy hart do mollifie Nothing of mine doth giue thee payne Nor thou think'st of no remedie Mistresse how long shall I sustaine such ill as still thou dost applie In death there is no helpe be sure But in thy will where it doth lie For all those illes which death doth cure Alas they are but light to trie My troubles do not trouble thee Nor hope to touch thy soule so nie O from a will that is so free What should I hope when I do crie How can I mollifie that braue And stonie hart of pittie drie Yet Mistresse turne those eies that haue No peeres shining like stars in skie But turne them not in angrie sort If thou wilt not kill me thereby Though yet in anger or in sport Thou killest onely with thine eie After they had first with a concent of musicke sung this song two plaied the one vpon a Lute the other vpon a siluer sounding Harpe being accompanied with the sweete voice of my Don Felix the great ioy that I felt in hearing him cannot be imagined for me thought I heard him nowe as in that happie and passed time of our loues But after the deceit of this imagination was discouered seeing with mine eies and hearing with mine eares that this musicke was bestowed vpon another and not on me God knowes what a bitter death it was vnto my soule And with a greeuous sigh that caried almost my life away with it I asked mine host if he knew what the Ladie was for whose sake the musick was made He answered me that he could not imagine on whom it was bestowed bicause in that streete dwelled manie noble and faire Ladies And when I saw he could not satisfie my request I bent mine eares againe to heare my Don Felix who now to the tune of a delicate harpe whereon he sweetely plaied began to sing this Sonnet following A Sonnet MY painefull yeeres impartiall Loue was spending In vaine and booteles hopes my life appaying And cruell Fortune to the world bewraying Strange samples of my teares that haue no ending Time euerie thing to truth at last commending Leaues of my steps such markes that now betraying And all deceitfull trusts shall be decaying And none haue cause to plaine of his offending Shee whom I lou'd to my obliged power That in her sweetest loue to me discouers Which neuer yet I knew those heauenly pleasures And I do saie exclaiming euery hower Do not you see what makes you wise O Louers Loue Fortune Time and my faire Mystresse treasures The Sonnet being ended they paused a while playing on fower Lutes togither and on a paire of Virginals with such heauenly melodie that the whole worlde I thinke could not affoord sweeter musick to the eare nor delight to any minde not subiect to the panges of such predominant greefe and sorrow as mine was But then fower voice passing well tuned and set togither began to sing this song following A Song THat sweetest harme I doe not blame First caused by thy fairest eies But greeue bicause too late I came To know my fault and to be wise I neuer knew a worser kinde of life To liue in feare from boldnesse still to cease Nor woorse then this to liue in such a strife Whether of both to speake or holde my peace And so the harme I doe not blame Caused by thee or thy faire eies But that to see how late I came To knowe my fault and to be wise I euer more did feare that I should knowe Some secret things and doubtfull in their kinde Bicause the surest things doe euer goe Most contrarie vnto my wish and minde And yet by knowing of the same There is no hurt But it denies My remedie Since late I came To knowe my fault and to be wise When this song was ended they began to sound diuers sorts of instruments and voices most excellently agreeing togither and with such sweetnes that they could not chuse but delight any very much who were not so farre from it as I. About dawning of the day the musicke ended and I did what I could to espie out my Don Felix but the darknes of the night was mine enimie therein And seeing now that they were gone I went to bed againe where I bewailed my great mishap knowing that he whom most of al I loued had so vnwoorthily forgotten me whereof his musicke was too manifest a witnes And when it was time I arose without any other consideration went straight to the Princesse her pallace where I thought I might see that which I so greatly desired determining to call my selfe Valerius if any perhaps did aske my name Comming therefore to a faire broad court before the pallace gate I viewed the windowes and galleries where I sawe such store of blazing beauties and gallant Ladies that I am not able now to recount
to be hid and you deere Ladie make that an occasion to forget me which should be rather a motiue to loue me better I cannot perswade me that you make so small an account of your selfe to thinke that I can forget you for any thing that is or hath euer been but rather imagine that you write cleane contrarie to that which you haue tried by my zealous loue and faith towards you Touching all those things that in preiudice of my good will towards you it pleaseth you to imagine my innocent thoughts assure me to the contrarie which shall suffice to be ill recompenced besides being so ill thought of as they are After Don Felix had read this letter vnto me he asked me if the answer was correspondent to those words that his Ladie Celia had sent him in hers and if there was any thing therein that might be amended Whereunto I answered thus I thinke Sir it is needlesse to amende this letter or to make the Gentlewoman amendes to whom it is sent but her whom you do iniurie so much with it Which vnder your Lordships pardon I speake bicause I am so much affected to the first loue in all my life that there is not any thing that can make me alter my minde Thou hast the greatest reason in the world said Don Felix if I coulde perswade my selfe to leaue of that which I haue begun But what wilt thou haue me do since absence hath frozen the former loue and the continuall presence of a peerelesse beautie rekindled another more hot and feruent in me Thus may she thinke her-selfe saide I againe vniustly deceiued whom first you loued because that loue which is subiect to the power of absence cannot be termed loue and none can perswade me that it hath beene loue These words did I dissemble the best I could because I felt so sensible griefe to see my selfe forgotten of him who had so great reason to loue me and whom I did loue so much that I did more thē any would haue thought to make my selfe still vnknowen But taking the letter and mine errant with me I went to Celias house imagining by the way the wofull estate whereunto my haplesse loue had brought me since I was forced to make warre against mine owne selfe and to be the intercessour of a thing so contrarie to mine owne content But comming to Celias house and finding a Page standing at the dore I asked him if I might speake with his Ladie who being informed of me from whence I came tolde Celia how I would speake with her commending therewithall my beautie and person vnto her and telling her besides that Don Felix had but lately entertained me into his seruice which made Celia saie vnto him What doth Don Felix so soone disclose his secret loues to a Page but newly entertained he hath belike some great occasion that mooues him to do it Bid him com in let vs know what he would haue In I came to the place where the enimie of my life was with great reuerence kissing her hands I deliuered Don Felix his letter vnto her Celia tooke it and casting her eies vpon me I might perceiue how my sight had made a sudden alteration in her countenance for she was so farre besides her-selfe that for a good while she was not able to speake a worde but remembring her-selfe at last she saide vnto me What good fortune hath beene so fauourable to Don Felix to bring thee to this Court to make thee his Page Euen that faire Ladie saide I which is better then euer I imagined bicause it hath beene an occasion to make me behold such singular beautie and perfections as now I see cleerely before mine eies And if the paines the teares the sighes and the continuall disquiets that my Lord Don Felix hath suffred haue greeued me heeretofore now that I haue seene the source from whence they flow and the cause of all his ill the pittie that I had on him is now wholly conuerted into a certaine kinde of enuie But if it be true faire Lady that my comming is welcome vnto you I beseech you by that which you owe to the great loue which he beares you that your answer may import no lesse vnto him There is not anie thing saide Celia that I would not do for thee though I were determined not to loue him at all who for my sake hath forsaken another For it is no small point of wisedome for me to learne by other womens harmes to be more wise and warie in mine owne Beleeue not good Lady saide I that there is any thing in the worlde that can make Don Felix forget you And if he hath cast off another for your sake woonder not thereat when your beautie and wisedome is so great and the others so small that there is no reason to thinke that he will though he hath woorthelie forsaken her for your sake or euer can forget you for any woman else in the worlde Doest thou then know Felismena saide Celia the Lady whom thy Master did once loue and serue in his owne countrey I know her saide I although not so well as it was needfull for me to haue preuented so many mishaps and this I spake softly to my selfe For my fathers house was neere to hers but seeing your great beautie adorned with such perfections and wisedome Don Felix can not be blamed if he hath forgotten his first loue onely to embrace and honour yours To this did Celia answer merily and smiling Thou hast learned quickly of thy Master to sooth Not so faire Ladie saide I but to serue you woulde I faine learne for flatterie cannot be where in the iudgement of all there are so manifest signes and proofes of this due commendation Celia began in good earnest to aske me what manner of woman Felismena was whom I answered that touching her beautie Some thought her to be very faire but I was neuer of that opinion bicause she hath many daies since wanted the chiefest thing that is requisite for it What is that said Celia Content of minde saide I bicause perfect beautie can neuer be where the same is not adioyned to it Thou hast the greatest reason in the world said she but I haue seene some Ladies whose liuely hewe sadnes hath not one whit abated and others whose beautie anger hath encreased which is a strange thing me thinkes Haplesse is that beauty said I that hath sorrow anger the preseruers mistresses of it but I cānot skill of these impertinent things And yet that woman that must needes be molested with continuall paine and trouble with greefe and care of minde and with other passions to make her looke well cannot be recknoed among the number of faire women and for mine owne part I do not account her so Wherein thou hast great reason said she as in all things else that thou hast saide thou hast shewed thy selfe wise and discreete Which I haue deerely bought said I
bicause it was now time to go home and that the flockes tooke their accustomed way towards the village they went after them and by the way faire Diana saide to Syrenus There are many daies past Shepherd since I sawe thee in these valleyes But more saide he since I woulde haue lost my life in lieu she had not seene me that made me passe it away in such great greefe whereas in the end it contents me not a little to talke of my passed fortunes that finde my selfe now in a safe hauen Dost thou then thinke this to be a sure estate saide Diana wherein thou now liuest It cannot be dangerous said he when I dare speake thus before thee I neuer remember saide Diana that I sawe thee so much lost for my loue but that thy toong might haue had as much libertie as now it hath Thou art as discreet in imagining this said he as in all other things else Why so saide Diana bicause there are no other meanes saide he to make thee not know that which thou hast lost in me but onely by thinking that I did not loue thee so much that my toong might not haue that libertie as thou sayest But yet for all this I pray God giue thee so much content as sometimes faire Diana thou hast wished me For though my loue be now past yet the relickes therof that remaine in my soule are sufficient to wish thee al the happines in the world Euery word that Syrenus spake was a dagger to Dianas hart For God knowes if she would not haue rather giuen a more willing eare to his wonted complaints then occupied her minde in beleeuing such apparant signes of his newe libertie And though she answered to euery thing the Shepherd spake vnto her with a certaine kinde of carelessenes and did helpe her-selfe by her owne discretion bicause she would not shew any signe of sorrow for their libertie yet in her minde she ruminated the discontent that by their speeches semblances she had so deepely cōceiued And with talking of these and other matters they were come to their village by that time the Sunne had hidden all his beames and taking leaue one of another they went to their owne houses But comming to Arsileus againe who went with great ioye and desire towards the wood where Dianas Temple was to see his Shepherdesse he came to a little brooke that ranne hard by the Temple amongst a row of greene Sicamours vnder whose coole shadowes he sat him downe hoping that Fortune would send some body that way by whom he might make his Belisa vnderstand of his being there bicause he thought it somwhat dangerous to come vpon her on the sudden especially when she thought him long since to be dead And on the other side the vnpatient desire that he had to see her would not suffer him to take any rest at all But the Shepherd consulting with himselfe what was best to be done espied by chaunce a Nymph of wonderfull beautie comming towardes him with her bowe in her hand and her quiuer at her necke looking on euerie side if she could espie any Deare or wilde beast to trie how she could bestow an arrow that she carried in her bow ready bent But seeing the Shepherd she went straight vnto him who rising vp did her such reuerence as was due to so faire a Nymph whom she curteously saluted againe For this was faire Polydora one of the three that Felismena and the Shepherds deliuered from the violent hands of the Sauages and a deere friend to Belisa But both sitting downe againe vpon the greene grasse Polydora asked him what countrey man he was and the cause of his comming thither Whom Arsileus answered thus The countrey where I was borne faire Nymph hath so ill intreated me that me thinkes it greeues me to call it mine although on the other side I am bound to loue it much and more then I am able to expresse And to tell thee the cause that Fortune had to bring me to this place it were first needefull for thee faire Nymph to tell me if thou dost belong to the sage Lady Felicia in whose Palace I heard say my deerest Belisia doth remaine the onely cause of my exile out of my natiue town of that infinit sorrow which her long absence hath made me feel I am of Lady Felicias house said Polydora the gretest friend in the world to the Shepherdesse that thou hast named and bicause thou maist also make such an account of me if I thought I might profit thee any thing by giuing thee some consel I would aduise thee to forget hir if it were possible or if it lay in thy power not once to haue an amorous thought of hir bicause the remedie of thy griefe is no lesse impossible then the helpe of that which she suffers since the cruell ground doth now feede on him who was once the hope of al her sorrow And may this be true said he that the earth doth consume hir seruant Arsileus most true said Polydora for this was he whom she loued more then her selfe and he whom I may iustly call the most vnfortunate man besides thee bicause thou hast setled thy thoughts in such a place where it is impossible for them to haue any remedie For though I was neuer in loue my selfe yet do I hold it for a firme opinion that the passion of death is not so ill as that which one suffers by louing her that hath her affection setled in another place I beleeue it well faire Nymph said Arsileus and that such are Belisas golden virtues and rare constancie that as imperious death cannot make her settle her affection in any other place so there is none in the world that can make her chaunge her minde wherein faire Nymph the whole summe of my felicitie consisteth How doth thy felicitie consist Shepherd said she by louing so as thou saist when as her loue is so strongly fixed in another place This is a strange kinde of affection and neuer heard of before Bicause thou maist no longer faire Nymph maruell at my words nor at the maner of the loue which I beare to Belisa the soueraigne mistresse of my thoughts giue eare a while said Arsileus and I wil tel thee that thou neuer thought'st to heare although the beginning of it thy friend and the loadstarre of my life hath perhaps told thee And then he told her from the beginning of their loues to Alfeus his inchauntments and braue deceit and euerie thing else that till then in his loues aforesaid befell vnto him which the Shepherd told sometimes with teares being loth to recall to memorie his passed mishaps sometimes with sighes that he fetcht from the centre of his hart imagining what his mistresse Belisa might feele in these occurrents and greeuous accidents And by his dolefull words and alterations in his countenance he gaue so great a spirit to that he said and shewed such signes of inwarde griefe that
then thinke that a poore vnfortunate Louer that loues wel is able to do what griefe thinkest thou he passeth when he knowes that his Shepherdesse is in the armes of her new married husband and he bewailing and weeping his disgrace and ill Fortune in the streete And this is not all the torment when such a mischeefe and death remaines yet thereof that he must not complaine of it at all but must suffer silly man and holde his peace bicause by complaining he shall be thought no lesse then a foole or a madde man a thing as contrarie to his rest as may be For if the iealousies were of some other Shepherd that serued her by complayning of the fauours she doth him and by hearing her excuses the Louer might better passe away his greefe but this is such a kinde of torment that in an instant one shall loose it if he haue no stay in his desire Leaue of this talke said Diana for thou hast no neede to loue nor to be beloued In respect of not hauing it to loue saide Syrenus I am glad in not hauing it also to be beloued Strange is thy libertie said Diana but stranger was thy forgetfulnes said Syrenus if thou dost remember well the words thou spakest to mee at my departure But let vs as thou saiest leaue of to speake of things which are past let vs thanke time and Lady Felicia for those that are present And thou Syluanus take thy Pipe and I will tune my Rebecke to it and let vs sing some verses togither although so free a hart as mine cannot sing of anie thing that may giue content to thine that is of another qualitie I will giue thee a good remedie for this saide Syluanus For let vs imagine that we are both in the same case as this Shepherdesse made vs liue when we filled these hils and dales with our amorous complaints Syluanus deuise liked them all well but Seluagia was a little displeased thereat who for that time bicause she would not seeme to be iealous where she was ascertained of so great loue helde her peace And the Shepherds began to sing in manner following Syrenus IF teares cannot with tendernesse relent thee How can my song thy cruelty assured Since nought of mine could euer yet content thee What hart was euer that so much endured That to deride thou neuer canst suffice thee Agreefe that hath the worlds wonder procured Ah blinde conceite let loue nor time disguise thee And such a thought of change that neuer told me But to thy good and my content a duise thee Ah wilt thou in such cares and greefes enfold me Fierce Shepherdesse and in such lamentations To spend my dolefull yeeres wilt thou behold mo A hart that 's thine dispos'st thou in such fashions Intreat'st thou thus a soule to thee affied That the lest greefe it is to suffer passions Syluanus Loue such a knot that 's endles thou hast tied That 's blinde and thou and I more blinde intended She is blinde for whom my life 's denied For I sawe not my life and pleasure ended Nor she how I for her to death imploy me Nor thou that I in flames am thus incended Fell Loue shall faire Diana now destroy me With absence then conclude since hate surrounds it To end my life and fortunes that annoy me Ioy 's slowe time flies and with his shortnes wounds it Hope dies an amorous thought liues still augmented Loue shortens it prolongs it and confounds it To speake I am ashamed thus tormented And though it greeues me yet with ceaslesse payning Without the same I cannot liue contented Syrenus O soule forsake not now thy dolefull plaining And you my wearied eies Cease not in swelling teares my cheekes to steepe Since you haue learn'd to weepe And waile the chiefest cause of all my cries Syluanus And waile the chiefest cause of all my cries Yet cruell Shepherdesse Sometimes they were of my most sweete content O thoughts in sorrow spent How small time lasts a ioy and happines Syrenus How small time lasts a ioy and happines And that sweete gracious smile Fortune wherewith I sawe thee not accoyd Now all is well imployd In him whom time doth counsell and beguile Syluanus In him whom time doth counsell and beguile Loue works his behest But in his things who can him well aduise Or his deceites who spies O cruell Shepherdesse O cruell brest Syrenus O cruell Shepherdesse O cruell brest Whose crueltie is no Whit lesse then her braue beautie and her grace And my mishap and case How to my cost my sorrowes doe I knowe Syluanus My Shepherdesse in white and red more cleere Then both those roses pluckt in May we see And brighter then the sunne beames sent From their coruscant Orient By morning that vpon thy foldes appeere How can I liue if thou forgettest me My Shepherdesse thy rigour then impaire For crueltie becomes not one so faire Syrenus My faire Diana more resplendant then The Emerauld or Diamond in the night Whose beautious eies doe cease My sorrowes that increase if gently that perhaps to me they bend So maist thou with thy flocke so faire and vvhite Come to my shadovved sheepefold in the heate That such a vvretch thou vvould'st not ill intreate Syluanus My Shepherdesse when that thy yellow haire Thou combest in the beames of shining sunne Dost thou not see the same obscured My pride andioy by them procured That am from hence beholding it so faire Woon now with hope now with despaire vndone But so maist thou thy beautie braue enioy As thou wouldst giue ameane in such annoy Syrenus Diana whose sweete name in all these hils The wilde beastes tames and crueltie rebates And whose surpassing beautie to it Doth subiect fortune and vndoe it And feares not loue but wars against his wils Respecting not occasion time nor fates To thee thy flockes and folds such ioy may giue As carelesse of my greefe thou wouldst not liue Syluanus The heate is past Syrenus and doth cease The Shepherds to their folds begin to goe And wearie grashoppers doe hold their peace The night will not stay long which hid belovve Is comming in vvhile Phoebus in our skie Doth heere and there his vading light bestovve Therefore before the darkest shade shall lie Vpon the ground and vvhile the vvren doth sing In top of this greene Sicamour on hie Our vvandring flockes together let vs bring And driue them vvhere Diana novv doth stay For vs vvhile in the vvoods our voices ring Syrenus My friend Syluanus goe not yet avvay Since all his beames not yet the sunne doth hide And that vve haue sufficient of the day There 's time for vs and for our flocke beside And time to driue them to the riuer cleere For in this meade to day they shall abide And Shepherd let my song be ended heere All the while that the Shepherds were singing the Shepherdesse Diana was leaning her faire face vpon her hand whose sleeue falling downe a
serued both for a mouth and channell which was not wrought with the blow of the hard Chesil but by the continuall running of the gentle water and so it was in some places a little more worne then in others being more soft or to say more properly lesse hard in one place then in another and by reason of the concauitie of the stone there was seene an inequalitie that represented a more pleasant and gracious running bicause it made the water come out more merily with high and low fals representing certaine cristalline in cleeres and shadows a pleasant and delightfull sight to the greedie eie The water fell into a fountaine of the same rockie stone wrought after the same forme as the channell was It was fouresquare and euery side was fower foote in bredth and in depth sixe or a little more The Petrenall was not right to smite fire with the blowe of hard steele bicause it was not blacke but so white that had it not beene for the hardnes thereof none would haue thought but that it had beene Alablaster And though it was not so curiously cut out and wrought like marble yet was it maruellous and strange for the turne it serued And so for the clecrenes of the water as also for the whitenes of the rockie stone it was so christalline that if any foule thing did fall therein it was so apparant to his sight that came thither that maugre his will hee was forced not to suffer it to receiue such iniurie but to bring it againe to the former purenes For which cause it was euer kept verie cleere and cleane The water ranne out of it into an Ilande on both sides to enuironne the greene plat which was set round about with white Poplars blacke Elmes and greene Sallowes It was in length about a hundred and fiftie paces and a hundred and twentie in bredth There was no entrance into it but where the Shepheds went in and by another way right ouer against the same made almost in the selfe same forme and fashion for the thicknes of the trees stopped vp all other waies and also bicause the water that ranne by the sides issuing towards the side without in some places of that brooke did wax so broad between the place of the trees that by the playne it could not by reason that it was somewhat higher Neere to this fountaine did the Shepherds sit vnder the shadow of a braunchie Oke and certaine Laurell trees and taking out some of those victuals that Doria had prouided for them after they had rested themselues a little they ouercame their importunate hunger satisfying their appetites sufficiently with the same and bicause they had a good way to goe that day they tooke not their rest as much as the place and their desires did inuite them but before all the heate of the day was past least the time should also passe away with it they were about to goe from that place But as they were preparing themselues to rise and to be gone Syrenus saide to Syluanus It is not reason Syluanus that liuing now in such ioy and content and in the presence of thy beloued Seluagia thou shouldest let thy Bagpipe waxe so drie nor is it meete that from this pleasant place the friendly entertainment and delights whereof thou hast enioyed thou shouldest depart without requiting it with the sweetnes of thy melodie and song With greater reason answered Syluanus should the Hamadryades preseruers of these trees and the Driades inhabitours of these green woods complaine of thee that wouldest go away without giuing them some part of thy sweete harmonie and melodious voice Let vs leaue this courteous contention said Syrenus and doe that which I request thee for the great reason which thou hast to do it for that which I told thee first though thou wilt not perhaps for that which I alleaged last For the first indeed I cannot deny thee said Syluanus but in faith I know not what to sing that might not grieue thee that art so far from loue or offend me that am so full of amorous thoughts so that in the end I can sing nothing vnlesse it be to mine owne griefe but that which belongs thereunto To heare thy delicate songs and inioy the sweetnes of thy voice saide Syrenus I will be content with any thing but since it must needes be in such sort in thy song I pray thee shew how far the firmnenes of thy loue extendeth which thou bearest to thy louing Shepherdesse for by occasion heereof I know she cannot nor will not choose but answere thee againe in whose sweet voice and song I shall take no lesse delight then in thine I am content said Syluanus And then thus he began Syluanus IT may fall out the heauens may turne at leisure And stay themselues vpon the highest mountaines And Ezla and Mondego at their pleasure With hastie course turne backe vnto their fountaines And that the flaxe or reede laid to the fire May not consume in flames but burne like wire But yet the day and time shall happen neuer When Syluan shall not loue Seluagia euer Immediately without any entreatie Seluagia bicause she would not die in Syluanus debt nor be beholding to him in this respect taking her Baggepipe vp in this sort did answer him Seluagia The ground shall first be void nor trod nor vsed Leesing her nature and her proper being First shall the raine and vvater be refused Of plants no moisture round about them seeing First shall our life vvith aire be not sustained And first the foode of hunger be disdained Before the vvorld shall see a deede so hainous Seluagia not to loue her deere Syluanus Syluanus The presence of the vvoolfe that doth deuoure The sillie lambes in shades shall not be feared As little shall the hare vvithin her bovvre The yalping hounds nor harts of lions teared Nor Mouse of Cat All hate shall be extruded And louing peace tvvixt all shall be concluded But yet the time and day shall happen neuer When Syluan shall not loue Seluagia euer Seluagia The flocke of little chickes the dams deere treasure Of rauening kites and gleades shall be eschevved The Partridge shall securely liue in pleasure Of praying Goshauke being not pursued The pullaine shall not be of Foxe molested But peace and truce tvvixt all shall be suggested But neuer lies a deede in her so hainous As that Seluagia should forget Syluanus Syluanus I say vvhile any part shall be maintained Of thy Syluanus vvith blood and vitall povvres And vvhilst each member of the same sustained Shall be vvith soule vnto their latest hovvres And if besides the soule can loue expired When to the graue the body is retired In life in death else let him prosper neuer Syluan sshall loue his Shepherdesse for euer Seluagia I say vvhile liuing breath shall not be vvanting In thy Seluagia louing thee so truly And vvhile her soule vvithin her body panting Shall make aboade and gouerne it
so duly And aftervvardes if that the same deceased Body and soule may be in loue increased In life and death and after death so hainous Seluagia shall for euer loue Syluanus Syrenus being very glad for the contentment of their companie and to see them both loue one another with such mutuall and great affection and knowing that it belonged to the dutie of friendship and though he had refused that they woulde entreate him in the end to sing without more ado tooke his Rebecke and sung thus THe Gods graunt you to frolicke in your hall His yeeres that so long time vvith nature striue And that in happie fortune you may liue Free from all kinde of sorrovves great or small And in your loue one haire may neuer fall Of iealousie a plague eid like a sieue Let heauens to temporall 〈◊〉 their fauours giue Fire aire sea earth and nature at your call The rot may neuer touch your soundest stockes Feare of the vvoolfe your shades may not molest And vvily foxe not feare your pretie lambes In plenty may encrease your goodly stockes Tvvo kids may yeerely yeane your fruitfull dams And your faire Evves vvith double tvvinlings blest The Shepherds hauing made an end of their sweete songs rose vp and casting their hairy scrippes on their shoulders staying themselues vpon their knotty sheephooks began to go on their way Who being comen out of that pleasant place into a faire meade to passe the time away and lighten their trauell and length of their way went inuenting and exercising diuers pastorall sports of which they made Seluagia iudge betweene them both sometimes throwing with their slings at some white or marke that they could espie within their reach vpon the side of some hill or tree sometimes trying with great dexteritie the goodnes of their slings to see who coulde giue the greatest cracke with them sometimes striuing who coulde throwe his Sheepehooke farthest sometimes contending to pitch them neerest to some white or Daisie in the way before them and whether of them with the strength of his arme could come nighest to some other marke as farre as they could reach and sometimes striuing who could smite a stone fardest with them In this sort they passed the time and wearines of their way vntill the broade mantell of the darke night beginning to ouerspred those plaines and fieldes made an ende of their sports and warned them to take their rest where they lodged that night The next day in the morning betimes when the prety birdes with their warbling notes filling the aire not yet fully cleere with harmonie foretold the comming of the Vermillion morning they began to make an end of their former iourney And now did the sunne cast downe his beames hotter vpon their heads and with greater heate shewing his forces when the three Shepherds came in sight of their knowne fieldes and plaines so often troden of them before Whereupon they now began to know their wandring flockes and amongst those Dianas sheepe although they were mingled with the flockes of her vnwoorthy husband Delius And so as Syluanus was saying These are the flockes of the vngratefull and disdainfull Shepherdesse Diana and of the Shepherd Delius happie without desert Seluagia saide It is not good to go by and not salute Diana if we finde her there And so they went that way to seeke her out where they had not gone farre but they sawe her standing very sadde and leaning against a great Oke with her elbow vpon her sheepehooke and her cheeke vpon the palme of her hande whereby one might haue iudged the care and sorrow that so much troubled her pensiue minde After a little while as though she was angrie with herselfe for casting her-selfe into so great a greefe she put her hand into her bosome and tooke out a fine little Baggepipe the which putting to her mouth to play on it in that very instant she threwe it to the ground and without more adoe sliding downe along the bodie of the tree sat her downe as if for great feeblenes she had not beene able to staie herselfe on her feete and casting out a sorrowfull sigh and looking vpon her harmlesse Baggepipe she spake these words Accursed Baggepipe consuming fire burne thee for the greefe and anguish that thou hast giuen me I brought thee with me to lighten and asswage my cruell sorrow in which dutie thou hast not onely failed but redoubled it the more Thou shalt not then accompanie me any more for the ill requitall of that loue wherewith I did euer cherish thee Now I am not any more for thee nor thou to serue my turne There shalt thou lie for the parching sunne to open thee making thee as drie as I am comfortlesse and for the raine to rotte thee making thee as moist as my cheekes spunged with continuall teares Ah woe is me how am I deceiued in thinking that the silly and sencelesse Baggepipe is in fault of that which enuious Fortune hath made me feele and in forgetting being so skilfull in other things how more abundantly my fortune surchargeth my soule with paine and troubles then this poore Baggepipe with any fault or iniurie How do I afflict and molest my selfe for a smal cause hauing so many to wearie me withall O God how comes it to passe that the cause of my passed ioy and gladnes is now the occasion of my present sorrow and that those things which before were light and easie are now most greeuous torments and burdens to me Howe soone is pleasure exiled from my poore soule wherein it was woont to make so sweete a soiourne In how short a time haue I lost my deere content whylom my only trustie companion And how easily am I depriued of all ioy and happines which I once so much at will possessed To what end doth it auaile me to be endowed with beauty and wit which with modestie I may chalenge since all do affirme the same in me vnlesse they were sufficient to remooue some part of my greefe But I beseech the soueraigne Gods that I were so farre from beautie and wit as I am at this present from ioy and comfort so that either the first had not brought me to this painfull condition of life or want of the second passed it away without feeling it so sensiblie O Syrenus and Syluanus how are yee now reuenged of me although it be vnknowne to you thou Syluanus of the contempt I did vniustly beare thee thou Syrenus of the ill requitall I gaue thee for thy sincere and earnest loue How neere alas doth the sorrowfull memorie of that ioyfull time come to my minde that did so soone slide out of my hands I would the Gods had beene so pitifull to me at one and selfe-same time to haue ended my daies and those delightfull howers When she had spoken these words she gaue so great a sobbe and such vehement sighes that it seemed she had no more life left to animate her afflicted
not fauoured with some remedie I know well faire Shepherdesse pardon me for saying so that reading these ill compacted lines thou wilt be in suspence to know the man that shewes himselfe so much appassionate for thy sake if any such thing occur to thy thoughts demaund it I beseech thee of a hart which thou hast lately got into thy subiection for that shal tell thee so sincere and pure a truth as here by a sencelesse wit simply set down Alas for me that going to visite one wounded with a knife I returned from thence wounded by thy Iuorie hand thou going to comfort a weake man in bodie did'st leaue me wounded in soule Behold therefore if being compassionate with him thou hast not beene cruell to me Thou wilt say perhaps thou didst not thinke any such thing would fall out which I beleeue verie well when as the same did as little fall in the compasse of my thought But yet thou canst not be iustly excused from fault and punishment since no lesse then her that with suspitious and priuie weapons armes her selfe thou art woorthie of both Who then can carrie about her such secret weapons as thou hast done assayling my soule vnarmed then and without defence with such a victorious and wounding hand I will not trouble thee any more with my vnpolished simple reasons vntil the string of my iarring fansies be tuned by thy most soueraigne hande which the immortall Gods defend with their mightie handes as thou maist me with thy milke white hand This letter being short and sententious pleased the Shepherdes verie much But when it was read out Faustus said Behold here good Shephedes the estate wherein I am attending the sentence of my glorious death or happie life written by that incomparable white hand Entreat gentle Shepherdes the Amorous God of loue if your sacrifices be acceptable to him to wound her like my selfe with his golden headed arrow and hide his leaden one from her If the seruants of this little boy enamoured Shepherd said Seluagia may preuaile any thing to obtaine such fauour of him thou shalt be soone deliuered from these passions by the milde entreaties of my Shepherd Syluanus here and of my selfe But it is needlesse to make this Shepherd Syrenus a meane and intercessour for thee bicause he is the most iniurious rebell to loue that dwels in these villages here abouts O Iupiter said Faustus Is it possible that I inioy the thing before mine eies that next to my most soueraigne Shepherdesse I desired to see whose loues haue wearied fame so much in euerie place I was about to aske you who you were and which way you trauelled wherein it onely remaines for you to satisfie my desire since of the first I am not ignorant Although first I would rather aduise thee Syrenus for keeping my promise to Cupid and pray thee besides hauing mature consideration to his inuincible might to follow and obey him and to beware to rebell against his soueraigntie bicause thou maist not say that I haue not warned thee before I thanke thee for thy good will said Syrenus but for thy coūsel I care not Well said Faustus herein I haue discharged my duty thou maist do what thou thinkest best But yet take heed least somtimes hereafter thou beest not punished like my selfe But then Syrenus bicause he would not haue him talke any more of that matter told him whither they went but could not tell him of their returne I am sorrie for that said Faustus bicause at your returne I would willingly goe with you to see the vngratefull Shepherdesse Dians whom I haue heard woonderfully commended for beautie and fine graces and to behold in what hart such forgetfulnes could harbour hoping that if for the great desire I haue to see her I stay here till your returne to accompanie you home thou w◅ not be angrie Syrenus Not I said Syrenus but as I must warne you to take heed so must I tell you that this counsell is better for you then that which you gaue me In these and other speeches they passed the time away vntill the hower of their departure came wherein with profered courtesies and gentle offers on both sides they went euerie one his way With some small force yet went vermillion Apollo shining ouer the face of our old mother when the three Shepherds comming neere to the Iland where they had beene before at their last departure did see a companie of people together and as they came neerer to them knew it was Felicia some of her Nymphes with Don Felix and his Lady Felismena Not a little amazed thereat they staied and perceiued how they came guiding their steps towardes them But they maruelled verie much to see them come so silent and not talking a worde But Felicia being come and the Shepherds hauing in dutifull sort saluted her and the rest asked her the cause of their comming that way and of their vnwoonted silence Whom she answered saying The desire I haue my friendly Shepherds to pleasure Lord Felix and Felismena and the loue I beare to you to giue you all possible content hath mooued me to bring them hither against your comming bicause you might in so delightfull a place as this recreate your mindes altogither The cause of my comming in such silent sort and without any singing of these louers or of my Nymphes is bicause their noise may not depriue both them and you of a sight woorthie the marking which shal by by ensue wherby you shall know that as you your selues are not onely in loue so all alone you do not suffer troubles and sorrowes for your deerest loues And therfore I will you all to follow me as softly as you can The Lady then going vp with her companie along the Spring in the Iland the way which I said before did lead to the pleasant meade where the fountaine of the Laurell trees was came vnawares to the very entrance of it The which Lord Felix and his beloued Ladie not hauing seene that place before imagined it to be some earthly paradise or that they were in the pleasant fieldes of Elysium although they were not suffered to take any other delight therein but only the pleasant view therof with their wandring eies bicause for the strict silence inioyned them with wordes and woorthy praises they durst not extol that place of paradise nor had leaue to demand any thing concerning the same At the entrance of it Felicia sat her downe and all the rest after her who staied there a pretie while not daring almost to breath and sawe no more then the trembling Sunne-beames that with force seemed to passe betweene leafe and leafe amongst the greene trees that grewe neere togither whereupon their thoughts went wandring and musing of many matters and their harts were constrained to bite on the bit of forced patience And faine they would haue changed in their iudgements the pleasure to see that which Felicia promised them to
with thankes repaying I made an excuse that I had some busines another way and bad him farewell wherewith I went backe againe to Parthenius and the olde man homeward to his house The next morning for there we passed away the same night we went to the place where Stela had cast her selfe into the riuer attending there her comming foorth and being come foorth to see if we might talke with her But before we came we espied the virgins olde Father walking vp and downe along the riuer bankes And going neerer vnto him to see if he offered to cast himselfe into the riuer we sawe how wearie of walking he sat him downe and then with as lowde a voice as his greefe would giue him leaue heard him in this sort singing to his deerest daughter DAughter that in this deere And christ all riuer hast thy dwelling place With Nymphes O har ken heere To me a little space Parisiles thy wofull fathers case Deny not him thy sight Who euer did for thee himselfe despise The absence of thy light And heauenly shining eies Vnto his soule a bitter death applies Which so consumes his breath That liuing thus his life he doth defie For such a life is death And he would rather die Then leaue to liue without thy companie Ioy now and doe not stay An aged man consum'd with greefe vnlesse That thou wilt haue him say The loue thou didst professe To him was all but fain'd as he may gesse Why dost thou stay so long A wretched soule with comfort to sustaine O come and breake this strong And mourning vale in twaine Of his affliction miserie and paine My soule thou woont'st with glee To heare this voice but either I am not As once I woont to bee Or thou art chang'd I wot Or thy poore father els thou hast forgot But first I pray to God Then such obliuion in thy brest should bee My vitall period May finish not to see My selfe forgot of her that loued mee Come then my hart and cleere Thee of this doubt this fauour let me trie If not this riuer cleere Shall hide me by and by For there with thee I meane to liue or die If the waues of the riuer and the neighbour sea being mooued to ruthe and pitie seemed to stay and the noise of them both with his dolefull voice made gentle and calmed ceased a while that his tender complaints might be the better heard how much more would you haue iudged our harts being wrought with pitie and compassion to be mollified with the amorous plaints wherwith the pitifull old man did cal vpoÌ„ faire Stela For it might be wel vnderstood by his impatience how much he loued her when as he thought euery moment he staied there a thousand yeeres But there passed not much time when the waters being gently opened out of the middes of them rose a faire companie of Nymphes with garlands of diuers colours vpon their yellow haire in the middes of which appeered faire Stela like chaste Diana amongst her gracious quire of Nymphes At whose sight old Parisiles for the incomparable ioy he had to see his desired daughter and we to see our new beloued Mistresse fell all downe to the ground but raised vp againe with the sweetenes of a Set-song a consort of heauenly musick which the Nymphes had made amongst themselues we harkened to that which was sung as followeth PArisiles thy dolefull song and playning Thy piteous sighes and weeping without measure To comfort thee haue made this goodly quire Leaue their aboades and stately seates of pleasure Afflict not then thy selfe but cease thy paining And let thy wearied soule to rest aspire Let plaints begun retire And be in ioy and happy gladnes ended And be not now offended Parisiles or carefull for thy daughter For hither we haue brought her In good estate for thee to see her knowing That more then this to both we all are owing If that the Gods are iust in any wise Then are they bound to helpe those that doe pray To them for helpe and in their seruice liue Then since that you your selues did euer giue To follow them and choose the better way In honouring vs by deede and sacrifice The best we can deuise Of all good turnes that may your loue requite Belongs to you of right Parisiles the Gods in heauen doe knowe In sea and earth belowe Thy things and haue of them a greater care Then thou maist thinke and of thy happy fare For which thing they themselues had first ordeined That Stela the most monstrous Shepheard flying Should cast her selfe into this cleerest riuer For knowing what her fates and stars would giue her Their influence with all their helpe denying By secret meanes her fortune they restrained And such a signe that rained Ouer her head that threat'ned to destroy her And present to annoy her They therefore will she liue within our bowres Vntill these lucklesse howres Doe passe and while this signe and fate expires Vnwoorthy her deserts and high desires The Sonne of Goddesse Cytherea shall Heer after be the cause of her despaire The cruell wounding her with doubtfull loue And so this loue that shall so doubtfull fall Great strife in her and many wars shall moue Not knowing which to choose that is most faire Her brest loues sweete repaire Continu ally shall wauer on two men Inclining now and then Her loue to one then to another straight Poore soule she shall await In this suspence not knowing to define To whether of them both she should incline And thinke not that th' immortall Gods intended To bar these loues that heere I am declaring Nor their successe would euer haue denied For being to a vertuous end applied Either of both they would not haue suspended Alas it is their fate such woes preparing Not one nor other sparing Both for one cause in one loue shall be chained And both alike be pained But yet the Gods shall euer be procuring That Stela then enduring These â—ardest haps shall not with those be placed Whom Fortune alwaies checkes and hath disgraced But thou must comfort thee aboue the rest If of these three the hard and cruell fate Cannot be shunn'd their ioies that must adiourne After these woes Fortune shall make them blest Shewing her face milde and propitiate Gentle and sweete Then shall they cease to mourne Forâ—…e her wheele shall turne Annoyes to ioyes their sighes to sweetest songs Shall turne and all their wrongs Shall cease Their woes their miseries and teares Their sorrowes greefes and feares Shall be one day conuerted into ioy Which neuer after Fortune shall destroy Thy daughter then Parisiles imbrace And so restore her to this place againe The heauens must haue their race Then let them run And cease to mourne in vaine This beuie of faire Nymphes when they had ended their propheticall song came to the riuer side and with a maruellous sweete consent did put into Parisiles armes his welbeloued daughter Betweene whom
answere this I cannot well replie Let it suffice thee that the lest suspect Of any harme thou hast doth make me die And worse then death torments me in effect Deere Lady then I would not haue thee prooue The cruell shaft of angrte Nemesis For first let each infernall power mooue Their plagues against me of eternall Dis. But now I would be glad if thou wouldst tast The sweete and golden flight of Cupids powre Bicause my torments which are gone and past Pitie thou might'st and those I feele this howre For if thou knew'st my paines and pitious case With pitie and teares thou wouldst my life deplore Not for my merits which are very base But for my loue which well deserueth more Each thing that is created heere so fit An equall hauing in a diuers kinde In such like kinde a paiment doth admit By measuring the debt that is behinde But as fell loue no equall doth containe In such a diuers kinde and different By selfe same thing it paies it selfe againe Loue must be paid with loue of good intent Then since it is most euident and cleere That I doe prize thy loue at such a rate Thou must requite my loue againe so deere If Nemesis ingratitude doth hate But if thou dost not purpose to requite The loue that I haue borne and beare thee still And with like loue to ease my heauie plight And greeuous paines for thy procuring ill My hands of life shall then vndoe the chaine But not of loue by death to ease my death And so requite me when no other meane Is left to make me still enioy this breath For sure if that my life be of this sort My life is death and dying is my life My death is sweete a pleasure ioy and sport Lining in such a world of amorous strife But now I cease my teares fall in such store And painfull soule for greefe can write no more O how wisely hast thou done Martandrus said Lord Felix by warning vs to be attentiue for this letter doth well beseeme the person of a discreete and enamoured Gentleman with what modestie and feare did he write it And how true is that said Danteus which is almost in the end of it That all things in this worlde in a different kind may be paide as grasse with sheepe sheepe with cloth and finally all with money but onely loue the which bicause with no other thing it hath neither equalitie nor proportion cannot but with loue be recompenced againe For touching my selfe I know that though my Shepherdesse Duarda would giue me all that she hath in the world yet she could not pay me that she owes me if she denied me her loue Felismena preuenting Duarda that was about to answere him said Let vs leaue this for this time And as you loue your selfe Sir tell on bicause we may know what this Ladie did with such a letter for I know not what she was able to answere againe but to yeelde her selfe to his loue whereupon I thinke she durst not take in hand to answere so wise reasons Not so Ladie said Martandrus for I assure you that Dardanea is not such an one that the high sence and stile thereof could put her to a non-plus in proofe whereof you shall see it by her answere But bicause we may not discontinue so sweete a discourse I will proceede This letter was of so great effect in Dardaneas tender hart that now in euerie point she perceiued her selfe yeelded to Cupids forces The which her cristalline teares that issued out of her cleere eies did make so manifest that she was vnable to stay them although many times in vaine she laboured the contrarie But as she could not satifie her selfe with reading it once or twise ouer the more she read it the more her loue encreased For knowing Disteus his vertues and valour to bee great and therewithall considering the qualitie of his person and with what milde modestie and discretion he wrote this letter the well conceiued words thereof were so forcible in her minde imprinted that they strangely disposed it to entertaine most louing thoughts of him that wrote them Her kinde and tender hart was no lesse pierced with pitie and compassion when she vnderstoode in what extremities his loue consisted since by the sequell of his letter she perceiued how abruptly he ended whereby he manifested the forcible passion that he had in writing of his paines and sorrowes To all which no meane motiues in her conquered minde this moreouer occurred that he offered to expose himselfe to any danger of death for Sagastes his mortall enemie onely to do her seruice that neuer yet had shewed him the least fauour in the world So that loue assayling her on the one side which till then had not notably signorized in her and her honour and vertuous reputation which she had euer religiously obserued pressing her on the other droue her vsetled thoughts into such suspence and troubled her doubtfull minde that being ignorant what course to take or what remedie to choose out for the best since she would neither offend this could not choose but obey that she was between two contraries so mightily assaulted that to yeelde to one without preiudice to the other shee would in a manner haue lost her deerest life which sorrowfull thoughts hiding in her secret breast and the letters in her amorours bosome she went to her chamber where casting her selfe vpon her bed and lying flatling vpon her pillow thus shee lamented to her selfe O what shall become of thee Dardanea being assailed by two such opposite enimies O heauenly Diana O inuincible Venus How haue you both with your diuine powers seised on my yeelding soule How could you being so great Goddesses make your habitation and seat in so humble a sublect and in so base and little a house as this is And being so contrarie and capitall enimies how haue you determined to your content and my losse to deraigne a hard and mightie battel in such a tender and weake field Why will you execute your vnresisted forces in the feeble breast of a yeelded and captiue woman Faine would I not open the gates Diana whose name I honor to thy cōtrarie but pardon me since I haue not my wonted forces for importunate Venus knowing how strongly this tower of thinc was defended being driuē many times from it hath now emploied all hir force in the enterprise and conquest of it O noble Disteus if thy words be fained which the Gods forbid then is my death certaine But why should I thinke so when as thou are Disteus whose name includes all generous virtues and I Dardanea whose minde such thoughts doth ill beseeme Alas poore Gentleman how vngratefully doth Palna thy nurse requite thy fauours which she confesseth thou hast bountifully bestowed on her since from thy first desire a matter but of small consequence she so bitterly repelled thee by denying to giue me a letter which to her hands
Which I bestow'd and thought not of his passions And that the fault that heertofore did blame me Causeth my paine and with my paine doth shame me Hart breake in two for greefe when thought assailes thee Of those fell torments which thou once didst lend him Thou lou'st him now but little it preuailes thee To pardon that wherewith thou didst offend him Who cried once for that which now I crie for And died once for that which now I die for These present greefes of passions that confound me With ceaselesse paine torment not in such measure As thoughts of my late crueltie doe wound me Or when I thinke I lost so deere a treasure For they are heauen to thinke that now I prize him And these are hell to thinke I did despise him For if my little loue more fitly named Iniurious hate whereof I now repent me Were not in fault alas too lately blamed Of all these present greefes that thus torment me Then with complaints I would not cease t' importune Vngentle loue and raile on cruell Fortune But I so proude for my admired beautie That flattred me of sense was so bereaued That carelesse of my fault and forced dutie I owde to Loue I neuer once perceaued That Loue did take reuengement at his pleasure And Fortune change without all meane or measure But Loues reuenge wrought neuer such a woonder Nor to so great despaire did euer driue one As thus on euery side to breake a sunder And ruinate a hope that might reuiue one And Fortune in her change made neuer any So great as from one life to deathes so many Syrenus then how art thou now assured Of thy reuenge which thou hast deepely taken In my disgrace which I my selfe procured That since of late my loue thou hast forsaken No remedie for any greefe is left me That of my woonted comfort hath bereft me For heeretofore as thou hast euen and morrow Seene me disdaine thy sight with so small reason So maist thou now take pleasure in my sorrow And with thy scornes my feeble comforts season For now to loue me lies not in thy power Though I must loue thee till my dying hower So far from Cupids force thy haps haue blest thee And in thy libertie thou tak'st such glorie That gentle Shepherd I doe not request thee To cure mine ill which cannot make thee sorie But to beguile these paines by Loue or dained With one poore fauour though it were but fained And though mine ils which thou art not contented To remedie nor dost pretend to cease them When to thy carelesse thoughts they are presented Whose hot reuenge haue vowed to increase them Yet turne thine eies and see how mine are flowing With riuolets of teares that still are growing Behold my ruine and my life decaied My little hope which in despaire I borrow My teares my sighes my senses all dismaied Though not to take compassion of my sorrow Yet see how with them all I am affreighted In thy reuenge to be the more delighted For though with greefe wherewith I still am calling To mollifie thy hart and haue no power Nor that my teares which euermore are falling Cannot excuse my death one little hower Then will I die for loue of thee and neuer Enioy this breath without I loue thee euer Enamoured Diana had not so soone made an end of her delightfull musicke if on the sudden she had not beene interrupted by a certaine Shepherdesse which behinde a tuft of Hasels was hearkening vnto her Who therefore espying her gaue a pause to her sweete voice by cutting off the substance of her song and was not a little greeued which by a naturall blush that tainted her faire face might easily be coniectured that her song was heard and her griefe vnknowen especially perceiuing the same Shepherdesse to be a stranger and neuer seene in those parts before But she who from a far off had heard so sweete a sound with silent steps drew neere to enioy such daintie melodie and vnderstanding the cause of her dolorous song made on the sudden so goodly a shewe of her excellent beautie before her as the Nocturnall Moone is woont to doe when with her shining beames it pearseth and ouercomes the foggie thicknes of the darke clouds But seeing Diana to be somewhat troubled in minde at her sight with a merrie countenance she thus began to say vnto her I haue not a little faire Shepherdesse with my interrupting presence which to small purpose hath thus disturbed thee offended the great content which I had to heare thee but the desire I haue to know thee and to giue thee some lightning for thy griefe that causeth thee so pitifully to moane may serue if it please thee for my excuse and make me blamelesse heerein For the which griefe though it is bootelesse as some say to seeke any comfort yet by a free will and reasons deuoide of passion there may be sufficient remedies applyed Dissemble not therefore with me thy sorrowes and thinke it not much to tell me thy name and the cause of thy sad complaints since for this I will make no lesse account of thy perfections nor iudge thy deserts to be of lesse value Diana hearing these words stoode a while without answering her againe hauing her eies fastened on the rare beautie of that Shepherdesse and her minde occupied in a doubtfull construction of that which she should answere to her gentle offers and louing words and in the end answered her thus againe If the great pleasure which I take in beholding thee vnknowen Shepherdesse and curteous without compare and the comfort which thy sweete words do promise me might finde any small kinde of confidence or hope in my afflicted hart I would then beleeue that thou wert able to remedie my sorrowes and would not doubt to manifest my paines vnto thee But my griefe is of such tenour that when it begins to molest me it seiseth in such sort on my heart that it stops vp all the passages against remedie Yet know Gentle Shepherdesse that I am called Diana knowen too well in all the fields and villages hereabouts and so let it content thee to knowe my name and not to enquire further of sorrowes since thou shalt profit thee no more then to make thy selfe compassionate and condolent for my tender yeeres seeing them oppressed with so many cares and troubles Thus are they deluded answered the Shepherdesse that make themselues slaues to fonde Loue who but beginning to serue him are become so much his vassals that they desire not to be free and thinke it impossible to be manumitted from his seruitude If loue be thy greefe as by thy song I am sure it is then know faire Shepherdesse that in this infirmitie I haue no small experience For I my selfe haue beene manie yeeres a captiue in like bondage but now am free blinde I was but now haue found out the way of truth I haue passed in the amorous Ocean manie dangerous
may be called which willingly long since I would haue changed for death Know therefore faire Shepherdesse that my name is Marcelius and my estate far different from that which my habite doth testifie for I was borne in Soldina the chiefest citie in Vandalia of parents for birth and bloud renowned and in all wealth and power abounding In my tender yeeres I was caried to the king of Portugalles court and trained vp there where not onely of all the chiefest Lords and Knights I was beloued but especially of the king himselfe insomuch that I had neuer his good will and leaue to depart from thence vntill at the last he committed to my gouernment a charge of certaine men of warre which he had in the coast of Africa There was I a long time captaine of the townes and fortresses that the king had on the sea side remaining with my chiefest garrison in Ceuta where the originall of all my hard haps was first commenced For in that towne to my great harme dwelled a noble and renowned Knight called Eugerius who had also a charge by the King and gouernment of the same towne whom God besides that he had adorned and inriched him with the gifts of nature and Fortune had blessed with a Sonne called Polydorus valiant without compare and with two daughters called Alcida and Clenarda women of most rare and excellent beautie Clenarda was verie skilfull in drawing of her bow and in shooting but Alcida which was the eldest endowed with incomparable beautie whose vertues so inflamed my hart with burning loue that they haue caused me to leade this desperate kinde of life which I now passe away wishing for death which euerie day I call vpon and attend Her father was so tender and charie ouer her that few times he suffered her to be out of his sight which thing was no small impediment to the opening of my griefe and great loue I bare her except sometimes when it was my fortune to see her by an appassionate eie and many sighes maugre my will came forciblie out of my brest I signified my paines vnto her At one time among the rest I wanted not opportunitie to write a letter vnto her which fit occasion by fauourable fortune granted me I omitted not but wrote to her this letter following Marcelius his letter to Alcida THat maiestie so princely graue and sweete That modest blush that gentle seemely grace Those lookes so chaste and hauiour so discreete Those golden vertues that thou dost imbrace Besides thy beautie which the world resoundes With famous name from heauen that brought their race In such a narrow streight with bleeding woundes Haue set my hart Alcida heauenly faire That euery thing my woonted rest confoundes For that which breedes my loue is my despaire And so restraines my soule that faine it would Say nought although it cost my vitall aire What man of flint that euer did behold The burning beames that thy faire eies doe cast But waxed dumbe and died with mortall cold Who euer sawe those beauties rare and chaste More perfect then the starrie skie aboue Or any liuing now or gone or past That presently felt not a feruent loue The cause whereof his senses so would vse As not to let him speake for his behoue So much I passe by silence that I muse That sad complaintes my hart doe neuer kill Nor breake my brest with anguish so confuse My ioies are none my woes continue still My paine is firme and all my hope is vaine I liue alas and die in greeuous ill And take reuenge vpon my selfe againe That which I most eschew doth take me straight And what I most desire I lest obtaine For that that lest behooues me I awaite Not comfort for my greefe that neuer endes Ioying in paine wherewith my soule I fraight Yet my delight and life so far extendes As thought of that great distance doth abide That twixt thy beautie grace and me dependes For in my soule I doe conceiue a pride That I haue put it in so high a place Where constancie and hope my hart doe guide But yet thy gentle and sweete Angels face Against my soule such mortall war doe threate That thousand liues dare not abide the chace To feare me yet the passage's not so great Nor way so steepe nor craggie that shall stay My forward steps with aanger or deceate I follow then my ruine and decay The path of paine and seeke not to decline From greeuous plaints that force me euery day Yet endlesse ioy my heauie hart doth shrine And glads my life by wished paine opprest That glories strangely in these greefes of mine Paine 's my delight my plaints my sport and iest My sighes sweete soundes my death my glory makes My woundes my health my flames my happy rest Nothing I see which stirs not and awakes My furious torment and her endlesse wheele But happy fortune by the same it takes These ils sweete Mistresse for thy sake I feele And in these passions liue and die tormented With equall paine and suffrance well contented Let then a man despairing of releefe Who to thy loue his doubtfull life assignes Mooue thee to some compassion of his greefe By reading of these hart-breake written lines Since that he craues no helpe for all his mone But onely that his torment may be knowne This was the letter I wrote vnto her the penning whereof had it beene as fine as the purpose fortunate I would not haue changed my skil in posie for famous Homers It came to Alcidas hands in whose hart when finally she knew the summe of my griefe though at the first the contents of my letter with my too great presumption did somewhat offend her it made deeper impressions then I imagined or hoped for Then I began to manifest my selfe for her open Louer by making manie braue Iustes and encounters at Tilt and Tourney running of wilde Buls and juego de Cannas by celebrating for her sweete sake and seruice Moresco sportes on horsebacke in the day time and maskes and stately dances in the night causing consorts of sundrie musicke to delight her and making verses impresas and Anagrammes of her loue and name and many other gallant shewes and inuentions more for the space of two whole yeeres togither At the ende whereof Eugerius thought me woorthie to be his sonne in law and by the request of some great Lords in those parts offered me his faire daughter Alcida for wife We concluded that the espousall rites should bee solemnized in the citie of Lysbone bicause the king of Portugall might with his presence honour them and therefore dispatching a Poste with all haste by him we certified the king of this marriage and requested his maiestie to giue vs leaue hauing commended our charges and affaires to persons of trust to celebrate it there Whereupon the report of this solemne day was published thorow all the citie and places farre and neere which caused so generall a ioy as was due
thou shalt offend For want they shall on whom to worke thy spight Oh then how seemely shalt thou seeme to grone And wounded see Thyselfe with thine owne griefes and then thine owne Captiue to be For thou at last thy selfe shalt not forsake If that thou wilt a secret Louer take Then maist thou giue to Louers double smart And then I will forgiue thee all the care And amorous paines thou didst to me impart When that thy selfe fond Loue thou dost not spare And if I blame thy deedes or do reprooue thee Then shalt thou say But to thy selfe that reason yet did mooue thee To make away Thy selfe and for thy selfe thy death to take Sweete life do not my secret loue forsake All of them liked well of Taurisus song but Ismenia especially For though it touched Diana most of all bicause it spake of those women that were ill married yet the comment vpon it which were complaints against loue was common to all those that were tormented with it And therefore Ismenia who blamed Cupid for her paines did not onely like of those reprehensions that Taurisus gaue Loue but she herselfe to the sound of her Harpe sung a song to the same effect which Montanus was woont to sing when he was a suter vnto her A Sonnet HAuing no cause why in the deepest sound Of amorous seas my fraile barke dost thou swallow O Loue I 'le make thy crueltie to sound Swifter from East to West then flying swallow Though gales of windes doe bluster in my sterne Yet from the gulfe my ship shall neuer part Of thy braue might so furious and so sterne Vntill my sighes doe helpe to blowe a part If being in a storme my face I turne Then my desire is weakned by thy might Thy force controuces my force that striues in vaine I neuer shall arriue with happy turne Into the port and therefore if I might I would let out my life in euery vaine Marcelius deferred not his answere long after them with another song made to the same purpose and of the same forme sauing that the complaintes that he made were not onely against Loue but against Fortune and himselfe A Sonnet STep after step I followe death in sight Through euery field and hill and troden vale For euerie day my spirits he doth cite And warnes my selfe to shrowde me in his vale O death that once thou wouldst consume this light That still deducts my life in blisselesse bale Now that my hope hath past away so lgiht And ioies condemn'd to torments without bale That Goddesse whose continuall frownes I beare And loue that all my ioies asunder teares And I my selfe are foes vnto my hart She praying on me like a hungrie beare He chasing me like to the wounded Hart And I that doe increase my bootelesse teares The desire that Diana had to go to Felicias pallace would not suffer her to staie any longer there nor harken to any more songs but when Marcelius had ended his she rose vp And so did Marcelius Ismenia and Clenarda vnderstanding Dianas mind although they knew that Felicias house was nigh at hand and that they had time enough to be there before night After they had taken their leaue of Taurisus and Berardus they went from the faire fountain that way that they came in and walking thorow the wood at their leysure enioying the pleasures and delights of it at last they came out of it and then they began to go thorow a great and wide plaine passing goodly to behold where they went thinking howe they might recreate their mindes with some myrth while they were going on their waies and euery one told his opinion concerning that matter But Marcelius who had euer the figure of Alcida engrauen in his hart and thoughts tooke no greater delight nor other ioy then to marke the sweete behauiour of Polydorus and Clenarda and to harken to their talke And therefore to delight himselfe fully with this desire he said I beleeue not faire Shepherdesses that all your pastimes are comparable to the delight that you may haue if Clenarda would discourse vnto you any of those things that she hath seene in the fieldes and bankes of Guadalajar I passed that way in my peregrinations but tooke no pleasure in those delights bicause my minde went musing on other matters But bicause wee haue two large howers our iourney being but halfe an howers worke to go to Dianas temple we may therefore walke on softly and she if it please her may tell vs somthing of that goodly and pleasant countrey Diana and Ismenia seemed to be very glad shewing by their amiable countenances that they longed to haue her beginne although Diana was very desirous to come betimes to the temple but bicause she would not make it knowne to them she concealed the great passions of her desire by accommodating her will to their pleasures Clenarda then entreated by Marcelius following on her way beganne to saie in this manner Although I shall offend your daintie eares and offer great iniurie to the worthines of the kingdome of Valentia with a rude and disordered relation to recount the ornaments rarities and pleasures of it yet bicause I will in some part fulfil your gentle requestes I will say something that I haue heard and seene therein I will not make any particular narration of the fertilitie of the yeelding soyle the pleasantnes of the flourishing fieldes the beauties of the shrubby hils the shadowes of the greene woods the sweetenes of the cleere fountaines the melodie of the singing birdes the coolenes of the fresh and calme windes the riches of the profitable flockes of sheepe and goates the fairenes of the populous townes the good nature of the louing people the strangenes of the sumptuous temples nor of many other things more for which that countrey is famous thorow out the worlde bicause it requireth larger time and a better toong But bicause you may knowe the cheefest glorie of that countrey I will tell you that which I heard renowned Turia the principall riuer of that land sing Polydorus and I came on a day to his bankes to aske the waie to Dianas temple of the Shepherds thereabouts bicause they coulde best tell it in those parts and comming to a cottage where certaine herdsmen were wee founde them sweetely singing We asked them that we desired to know and they verie louingly informed vs at large of all we demanded and afterwards tolde vs that since we came in so good an hower that we should not depart from thence vntill we had heard a most sweete song that the famous Turia would make not farre from thence after halfe an hower We were well content to heare it and so we staied to go with them After we had staied a little while in their companie we went vp along the riuer bankes vntill we came to a wide fielde where we sawe a great companie of Nymphes Shepherds and Shepherdesses euery one attending when famous Turia would
a delightfull and coole shadow defending them from the heat of the radiant sunne which was with some heate mounted vp the Hemispheare Whilest Marcelius Don Felix Felismena Syluanus and the Shepherds were talking togither of these matters at the other end of the garden neere vnto the fountaine as it is saide before were Eugerius Polydorus Alcida and Clenarda Alcida had that day left of her pastorall weedes as Felicia had commanded and was now apparelled and adorned very richly with costly garments and iewels that she willed shoulde be giuen her But as Syrenus was also there Montanus Arsileus and Belisa singing and sporting togither they maruell ouslie delighted Eugerius and his sonne and daughters that were harkening to them And that which did most of all please them was a song which Syrenus and Arsileus did sing one against another in dispraise and fauour of Cupid For they sung with an earnest will and desire in hope of a braue christall cup which Eugerius had promised for a reward and prize to him that did sing best And so Syrenus to the sound of his Rebecke and Arsileus to the tune of his rurall Baggepipe began to sing in maner following Syrenus OEies that are not now as once tormented When first my star enueagled and disguis'd you O ioyfull thoughts and quiet minde absented O carelesse hart now will I once aduise you That since you made Diana discontented To see loue thinke on you let this suffice you That I doe hold your counsell best of many In vaine to see nor loue nor thinke of any Arsileus O eies that haue to greater light attained Looking vpon that sunne your onely treasure O toyfull thoughts in thousand ioies distrained O happy hart the seate of secret pleasure Although Belisa would haue once disdained To see to loue or thinke on me at leisure Yet hold I this a heauen as like was neuer To see to loue and thinke on her for euer Syrenus would haue replyed to Arsileus answer if he had not beene interrupted by Eugerius who said Since you must iolly Shepherds receiue your reward at my hands it is good reason that you sing in such sort as may best content me Sing thou Syrenus first those verses which thy muse shall dictate vnto thee and then thou Arsileus shalt sing as many againe or those which thou shalt best thinke good of It pleaseth vs well said they and then Syrenus began thus Syrenus LEt now the goodly spring tide make vs merie And fieldes which pleasant flowers do adorne And vales meades woods with liuely colours flourish Let plentious flockes the Shepherds riches nourish Let hungrie woolues by dogs to death be torne And lambes reioice with passed winter wearie Let euery riuers ferrie In waters flowe and siluer streames abounding And fortune ceaslesse wounding Turne now thy face so cruell and vnstable Be firme and fauourable And thou that kill'st our soules with thy pretenses Molest not wicked loue my inward senses Let countrie plainnes liue in ioies not ended In quiet of the desart meades and mountaines And in the pleasure of a countrie dwelling Let Shepherds rest that haue distilled fountaines Of teares prooue not thy wrath all paines excelling Vpon poore soules that neuer haue offended Let thy flames be incended In hautie courtes in those that swim in treasure And liue in ease and pleasure And that a sweetest scorne my woonted sadnes A perfect rest and gladnes And hils and dales may giue me with offences Molest not wicked loue my inward senses In what law find'st thou that the freest reason And wit vnto thy chaines should be subiected And harmelesse soules vnto thy cruell murder O wicked loue the wretch that flieth furder From thy extremes thou plagu'st O false suspected And carelesse boy that thus thy sweetes dost season O vile and wicked treason Might not thy might suffice thee but thy fuell Of force must be so cruell To be a Lord yet like a Tyrant minded Vaine boy with errour blinded Why dost thou hurt his life with thy offences That yeelds to thee his soule and inward senses He erres alas and fowly is deceiued That cals thee God being a burning fire A furious flame a playning greefe and clamorous And Venus sonne that in the earth was amorous Gentle and milde and full of sweete desire Who calleth him is of his wits bereaued And yet that she conceaued By proofe so vile a sonne and so vnruly I say and yet say truly That in the cause of harmes that they haue framed Both iustly may be blamed She that did breede him with such vile pretenses He that doth hurt so much our inward senses The gentle sheepe and lambes are euer flying The rauening woolues and beastes that are pretending To glut their mawes with flesh they teare asunder The milke white doues at noise of fearefull thunder Flie home amaine themselues from harme defending The little chicke when puttocks are a crying The woods and meadowes dying For raine of heauen if that they cannot haue it Doe neuer cease to craue it So euery thing his contrarie resisteth Onely thy thrall persisteth In suffring of thy wrongs without defences And lets thee spoile his hart and inward senses A publike passion natures lawes restraining And which with wordes can neuer be declared A soule twixt loue and feare and desperation And endlesse plaint that shuns all consolation A spendlesse flame that neuer is impaired A friendlesse death yet life in death maintaining A passion that is gaining On him that loueth well and is absented Whereby it is augmented Aiealousie a burning greefe and sorrow These fauours louers borrow Of thee fell Loue these be thy recompences Consuming still their soule and inward-senses Arsileus after that Syrenus had ended his song began to tune his Bagpipe and after he had played a little while vpon it answering euerie staffe of his Competitor in order he sung as followeth Arsileus O Let that time a thousand monthes endure Which brings from heauen the sweete and siluer showres And ioies the earth of comforts late depriued With grasse and leaues fine buds and painted flowres Eccho returne vnto the woods obscure Ring foorth the Shepherds songs in loue contriued Let olde loues be reuiued Which angrie winter buried hath of late And that in such a state My soule may haue the full accomplishment Of ioy and sweete content And since fierce paines and greefes thou dost controule Good loue doe not forsake my inward soule Presume not Shepherds once to make you mery With springs and flowres or any pleasant song Vnlesse milde loue possesse your amorous brestes If you sing not to him your songs doe werie Crowne him with flowres or else ye doe him wrong And consecrate your springs to his behestes I to my Shepherdesse My happie loues with great content doe sing And flowres to her doe bring And sitting neere her by the riuer side Enioy the braue springtide Since then thy ioies such sweetnesse doe enroule Good loue doe not forsake my inward
thousand torments in exchange All the while that Ismenia was singing and before and after she neuer cast her eies off her beloued Montanus But he who was somewhat ashamed of his fonde conceit wherein he had liued so long to the great griefe of his wife durst neuer looke on her but by stealth and at euerie turne of the daunce when she could not see him againe the reason whereof was bicause when sometimes he went about to looke her in the face he was so much confounded with shame of his folly that was yet so fresh in his memorie and was so much ouercome with the light of those two radiant eies of her which with great affection continually beheld him that he was forced to cast his downe to the ground Whereby seeing that he lost a great part of his delight by not looking on her whom he accounted his chiefest felicitie and making this the occasion and matter of the song he sung to his beloued Ismenia in manner following TVrne thy faire eies wherein my shame I see faire Shepherdesse aside For looking on me with the same To looke on thee I am denide With thy two sunnes so dost thou giue And cast me beames with pearcing eie That though by seeing thee I liue Yet when thou look'st on me I die Eies that are of such art and frame Thou must beware to keepe aside For looking on me with the same To looke on thee I am denide Like as the snowe vnto the sunne And as the marke vnto the fight As cloudes are with the windes vndone As waxe before the fires light So doe thy fairest eies with shame Confound me and my soule deuide For looking on me with the same To looke on thee I am denide Behold what mightie loue is bent To doe and fortune doth ordaine To make my sorrowes still augment By the sweete guerdon of my paine Thine eies doe feede my amorous flame And sight of them my life doth guide But if thou view'st me with the same To looke on thee I am denide Melisea who was all this while dauncing against her will with Narcisus whom she could not abide with a disdainfull song thought to be reuenged on this griefe and iust to the purpose of those paines and griefes wherewith the Shepherd said he died euerie daie for her sake making but a mocke and iest of them did sing thus YOng Shepherd turne aside moue Me not to follow thee For I will neither kill with loue Nor loue shall not kill mee Since I will liue and neuer fauour showe Then die not for my loue I will not giue For I will neuer haue thee loue me so As I doe meane to hate thee while I liue That since the louer so doth proue His death as thou dost see Be bold I will not kill with loue Nor loue shall not kill mee Narcisus tooke no meane griefe to heare the cruell song of his deerest Loue but encouraging himselfe with the hope that Felicia had giuen him and forced by the constancie and fortitude of his enamoured hart he answered her with two staues which he adioyned to a certaine old song that said thus IF to belou'd it thee offends I cannot choose but loue thee still And so thy greefe shall haue no end Whiles that my life maintaines my will O let me yet with greefe complaine Since such a torment I endure Or else fulfill thy great disdaine To end my life with death most sure For as no credit thou wilt lend And as my loue offendes thee still So shall thy sorrowes haue no end Whiles that my life maintaines my will If that by knowing thee I could Leaue of to loue thee as I doe Not to offend thee then I would Leaue of to like and loue thee too But since all loue to thee doth tend And I of force must loue thee still Thy greefe shall neuer haue an end Whiles that my life maintaines my will Melisea was so hardened in her crueltie that Narcisus hauing scarce ended the last words of his song and before another did sing she replied in this manner ME thinks thou tak'st the woorser way Enamoured Shepherd and in vaine That thou wilt seeke thine owne decay To loue her that doth thee disdaine For thine owne selfe thy wofull hart Keepe still else art thou much to blame For she to whom thou gau'st each part Of it disdaines to take the same Follow not her that makes a play And iest of all thy greefe and paines And seeke not Shepherd thy decay To loue her that thy loue disdaines Narcisus could not suffer Meliseas song to passe without an answer and so with a milde grace he sung these new verses vpon an old song that said SInce thou to me wert so vnkinde My selfe I neuer loued For I could not loue him in my minde Whom thou faire Mistresse dost abhor If viewing thee I saw thee not And seeing thee I could not loue thee Dying I should not liue God wot Nor liuing should to anger moue thee But it is well that I doe finde My life so full of torments For All kinde of ills doe fit his minde Whom thou faire Mistresse dost abhor In thy obliuion buried now My death I haue before mine eies And heere to hate my selfe I vow As cruell thou dost me despise Contented euer thou didst finde Me with thy scornes though neuer for To say the truth I ioyed in minde After thou didst my loue abhor The contention betweene Narcisus and Melisea delighted them all so much that the generall reioycing of that feast had beene greatly augmented by it had it not bin diminished with the manifest apparance of the rigor that she shewed Narcisus and with the pitie that they had of those paines which he suffered for hir sake After Narcisus had made an ende of his song all of them turned their eies to Melisea thinking she would haue replyed againe But she held her peace not bicause she wanted nipping and cruell songs to encounter and vexe the miserable Louer with nor will to reply but bicause she would not be troublesome to all that merie companie Seluagia and Belisa were afterwards requested to sing who excused themselues by alleaging their in sufficiencie Nay that were not well said Diana that you should goe from the feast without paying your shot And this must not so smoothly passe away said Felismena without the consent of vs all heere who meane to participate the sweete delight of so delicate voices as yours are We will not be slacke said they againe to do you anie seruice little though it be in this solemnitie but pardon our singing I pray you for in all other things we will be willing to do our endeuours I will not for my part giue my consent saide Alcida to exempt you from singing or at the least that some others shall sing for you Who can better do it said they then Syluanus and Arsileus our husbands The Shepherdesses say well said Marcelius and it
two corruptly done with a confusion of verse into Prose and leauing out in many places diuers hard sentences and some leaues in the end of the third Part wherefore they are but blind guides by any to be imitated Well might I haue excused these paines if onely Edward Paston Esquier who heere and there for his owne pleasure as I vnderstand hath aptly turned out of Spanish into English some leaues that liked him best had also made an absolute and complete translation of all the Parts of Diana the which for his trauell in that Countrey and great knowledge in that language accompanied with other learned and good parts in him had of all others that euer yet I heard translate these Bookes prooued the rarest and worthiest to be embraced The faults escaped in the Printing the copie being verie darke and enterlined and I loth to write it out againe I pray you Gentlemen pardon since all the last Terme that it was in the Presse hauing matters of greater consequence in charge I could not intende the correction aduertising you by the way that the greatest faults are at the ende of the Booke set downe the lesse being of no moment purposely omitted Fare ye well and continue me in your woonted loue and fauours Yours in all friendly offices B. Y. THE EPISTLE To the Illustrous and noble Lord Don Iuan de Castella de Villa Noua Baron of Bicorb and Quesa of GEORGE of Montemayor ALthough this custome were not very auncient most noble L. for Authours to dedicate their workes to personages of honour and renowne by whome they were protected and defended notwithstanding your rare and high deserts as well for your noble and ancient house from whence you are descended as also for the resplendant valour and vertue of your person might with greater reason then I can expresse incite me to performe more then this obliged dutie And admit the base stile of the worke and the Authours small woorth in reason ought not so far extend as to dedicate it to your Lordship yet excluded from all other remedies I presumed onely on this that it was somewhat accounted of For precious stones are not so highly valued for the name they haue for they may be false and counterfeite as for his estimate in whose handes they are I humbly beseech your good Lordship to entertaine this booke vnder your Hon. ampare and correction as to the Authour heereof being but a stranger you haue done no lesse since his poore abilitie is not able to serue your Lordship in any other thing whose wished life and noble estate our Lord increase for many yeeres To the same Lord. Moecenas was to Maro of great fame A singular good Lord and louing frend And Alexander did enioy that same Rare wit of Homer death though him did end And so the Villanouas generous name The Lusitan poore Authour doth defend Making a base and wanting wit t' aspire Vnto the clouds and yet a great deale higher Don Gaspar Romani to the Authour If Lady LAVRAS memorie vnstained PETRARC in endlesse verse hath left renowned And if with Laurell HOMER hath beene crowned For writing of the wars the Greekes obtained If Kings t' aduaunce the glorie they haue gained In life time when fierce MARS in battell frowned Procure it should not be in LETHE drowned But after death by historie maintained More iustly then shouldst thou be celebrated O excellent DIANA for the fairest Of all the faire ones that the world hath brought foorth Since all those wits whose pens were estimated To write the best in glorie thou impairest And from them all the Laurell crowne hast sought foorth Don Hieronymo Sant-Perez to George of Montemayor Parnasse O sacred mount and full of glorie The Poets muse delight of their desires Me thinkes thou art too comfortlesse and sorie Compar'd with this whose famous name aspires In deede J am since that the Muses left me And with their gracious Quire from hence descended To mount this Hill whose Greatnes hath bereft me Of all my fame and glorie that is ended Thrise happie his Diana since her flower In top of this High Hill was set so lately That all the world might view it euery hower Where she doth liue most soueraigne and stately In all the world most celebrate and graced Being no lesse excelse then highly placed The Argument of the first Seuen Bookes IN the fieldes of the auncient and principall citie of Leon in Spaine lying along the bankes of the riuer Ezla liued a Shepherdesse called Diana whose beautie was most soueraigne aboue all others in her time She loued and was deerely beloued againe of a Shepherd called Syrenus in whose mutuall loue was as great chastitie and vertue as might be At the same time another Shepherd called Syluanus loued her also more then himselfe but so abhorred of the Shepherdesse that there was not any thing in the world which she hated more But it fell out that as Syrenus was constrained to be out of the kingdom about certaine affaires which could by no means be excused nor left vndone and the Shepherdesse remaining at home very sad for his absence time and Dianas hart with time were chaunged who then was married to another Shepherd called Delius burying him whom she had but of late so greatly loued in vniust obliuion Who after a whole yeere of his absence comming home againe with great affection and desire to see his beloued Shepherdesse knew before he came that she was already married And from hence the first booke begins and in the others following they shall finde diuers histories of accidents that haue truly happened though they goe muffled vnder pastorall names and style The first Booke of Diana of George of Montemayor DOwne from the hils of Leon came forgotten Syrenus whom loue fortune and time did so entreate that by the least greefe that he suffered in his sorrowfull life he looked for no lesse then to loose the same The vnfortunate Shepherd did not now bewaile the harme which her absence did threaten him and the feare of her forgetfulnes did not greatly trouble his minde bicause he sawe all the prophecies of his suspicion so greatly to his preiudice accomplished that now he thought he had no more misfortunes to menace him But the Shepherd comming to those greene and pleasant meades which the great riuer Ezla watreth with his cristalline streames the great felicitie and content came to his wandring thoughtes which sometimes he had enioyed there being then so absolute a Lord of his owne liberty as now subiect to one who had wrongfully enterred him in darke obliuion He went musing of that happie time when in those medowes and on those faire banks he fed his flocks applying then his minde in the onely care and interest he had to feede them well and spending the rest of his howers in the onely delight that he tooke in the sweete smell of those golden flowers at that time especially when cheerefull spring-tyde the merry messenger
imperfection was incident to all women but to my Mistresse Diana in whom I euer thought that nature had not omitted to frame euery good and perfect thing But Syluanus after this prosecuting his historie saide vnto him When I came neere to the place where Diana was I sawe her fixing her faire eies in the cleere fountaine where vsing her accustomed maner she began to say O woefull eies how sooner shall you want teares to water my cheekes then continuall occasions to powre you out O my Syrenus I would to God before the winter with his blustring stormes despoyles the greene medow of fresh and fragrant flowers the pleasant vallies of fine and tender grasse and the shadowed trees of their greene leaues that these eies may behold againe thy presence so much desired of my louing soule as mine is eschewed and perhaps hated of thine With this she lifted vp her diuine countenance and by chance espied me and going about to dissemble her sorrowfull complaint she coulde not so cunningly doe it but that her teares made it too manifest by stopping the passage of her dissimulation She rose vp at my comming and saide Sit downe heere Syluanus and see how thou art now to mine owne cost sufficiently reuenged of me Now doth this miserable woman pay thee home againe those paines which thou didst suffer as thou saidst for her sake if it be true that she was euer or yet is the cause of them Is it possible Diana saide I againe that these eares may heare these wordes In the end I perceiue I am not deceiued by saying that I was borne to discouer euery day new kindes of torments for thy sake and thou to requite them with the greatest rigour in the world Dost thou now therefore doubt that thou art the cause of my greefe If thou art not who dost thou imagine can deserue so great loue as this or what hart in the world but thine had not before this bene mollified and made pitifull by so many teares And to these I added many other wordes which now I doe not so well remember But the cruell enemie of my rest cut off my wordes saying If thy toong Syluanus fondly presumeth to speake to me againe of these matters and not to entertaine the time with talke of my Syrenus I will at thine owne pleasure leaue thee to enioy the delight of this faire fountaine where we now sit For knowest thou not that euery thing that intreates not of the goodnes of my Shepherd is both hatefull and hurtfull to my eares And that she that loueth well thinketh that time but ill imploied which is not spent in hearing of her loue Whereupon fearing least my wordes might haue bene an occasion to haue made me loose that great content and happines that I had by her sweete sight and presence I sealed them vp with silence and was a good while without speaking a worde onely delighting my selfe with the felicitie I had by contemplating her soueraine beautie vntill night with greater haste then I desired came on when both of vs then were constrained to goe homewards with our flockes to our village Then Syrenus giuing a great sigh saide Thou hast tolde me strange things Syluanus and all wretched man for the increase of my harmes since I haue tried too soone the small constancie that is in a womans hart which for the loue that I beare to them all for her sake in very trueth greeues me not a little For I would not Shepherd heereafter heare it spoken that in a moulde where nature hath conioined such store of peregrine beautie and mature discretion there should be a mixture of such vnworthy inconstancie as she hath vsed towards me And that which comes neerest to my hart is that time shall make her vnderstand how ill she hath dealt with me which cannot be but to the preiudice of her owne content and rest But how liues she and with what contentment after her marriage Some tell me saide Syluanus that she brookes it but ill and no maruell for that Delius her husband though he be as thou knowest enriched with fortunes giftes is but poore in those of nature and good education For thou knowest how lowtish of spirit and body he is and namely for those things which we Shepherds take a pride in as in piping singing wrestling darting of our sheepehookes and dauncing with the wenches on Sunday it seemes that Delius was borne for no more but onely to beholde them But now good Shepherd said Syrenus take out thy Kit and I will take my Bagpipe for there is no greefe that is not with musicke relented and passed away and no sorrow which is not with the same againe increased And so both the Shepherdes tuning and playing on their instruments with great grace and sweetnesse began to sing that which followeth Syluanus SYrenus what thought'st thou when I was viewing thee From yonder hedge and in great greefe suspending me To see with what affliction thou wert ruing thee There doe I leaue my flocke that is attending me For while the cleerest sunne goeth not declining it Well may I be with thee by recommending me Thine ill my Shepherd for that by defining it Is passed with lesse cost then by concealing it And sorrow in the end departs resigning it My greefe I would recount thee but reuealing it It doth increase and more by thus recording me How in most vaine laments I am appealing it My life I see O greefe long time 's affoording me With dying hart and haue not to reuiue me it And an vnwonted ill I see aboording me From whom I hop'd a meane she doth depriue me it But sooth I hop'd it neuer for bewraying it With reason she might gain say to contriue me it My passions did sollicite her essaying yet With no importune meanes but seemely grounding them And cruell loue went hindering and dismaying it My pensiue thoughts were carefully rebounding them On euery side to flie the worst restraining them And in vnlawfull motions not confounding them They prai'd Diane in ils that were not fayning them To giue a meane but neuer to repell it thee And that a wretch might so be entertaining them But if to giue it me I should refell it thee What wouldst thou doe O greefe that thus adiuring it Faine would I hide mine ill and neuer tell it thee But after my Syrenus thus procuring it A Shepherdesse I doe inuoke the fairest one And th' end goes thus vnto my cost enduring it Syrenus Syluanus mine a loue of all the rarest one A beautie blinding presently disclosing it A wit and in discretion the waryest one A sweete discourse that to the eare opposing it The hardest rocks entendereth in subduing them What shall a haplesse louer feele in loosing it My little sheepe I see and thinke in viewing them How often times I haue beheld her feeding them And with her owne to foulde them not eschewing them How often haue I met her driue and speeding them Vnto
the riuer in the heate where resting her With great care she was telling yet and heeding them After if that she was alone deuesting her Thou shouldst haue seene the bright sunne beames enuying her Resplendant hayre to kembe them manifesting her But on the sudden meeting and espying her My deerest friend Syluane how oft incended was Her fairest face with orient blushing dying her And with what grace how mildly reprehended was My staying long which she did aske correcting me Which if I greeu'd with blandishments amended was How many daies haue I found her expecting me At this cleere fountaine when that I was seeking her Along that thickest hedge to greefe subiecting me All paines and troubles what so ere in meeting her Of sheepe or lambes we straight way were forgetting them When she sawe me or when that I was greeting her Some other times Syluane we tun'd in setting them Our Bagpipe and the Rebeck which we plaied on And then my verses sung we nothing letting them After with bowe and arrowes we estraied on Sometimes with nets and she neuer refraining me And came not home without some chase we praied on Thus fortune went by these meanes entertaining me Reseruing for some greater ill and tendring me Which hath no end but by deathes end restraining me Syluanus Syrenus that most cruell loue engendring me Such greefe stints not nor hindreth the perswading me Of so much ill I die therein remembring me Diane I sawe but straight my ioy was failing me When to my onely sight she was opposing her And to my greefe I saw long lift inuading me How many tymes haue I found her in losing her How often lost in finding and espying her And I my death and seruice not disclosing her My life I lost when meeting I was eying her Faire louely eies which full of anger cruelly She turn'd to me when that my speech was plying her But her faire haire where Cupides in their fâ—…ll lye When she vndid and kemb'd vnseene then leauing me My ils return'd most sensibly which rue well I. But pitilesse Diana then perceiuing me Turn'd like a cruell serpent that in winding it Assailes the lion thâ—… my life be reauing me One time false hope deceitfully but blinding it My hart maintain'd ewen for my comfort choosing it But afterwardes in such an error finding it It mocked hope and then it vanisht loosing it Not long after that the Shepherdes had made an ende of their sorrowfull songs they espied a shepherdesse comming out of the thicket neere to the riuer playing on a Bagpipe and singing with as sweete a grace and delicate voice as with no lesse sorrow and greefe which by her countenance and gesture she so liuely expressed that it darkened a great part of her excellent beautie Whereupon Syrenus who had not of a long time fed in those vallies asked Syluanus what she was who answered This is a faire Shepherdesse that hath sed but a fewe daies since in these medowes complaining greatly of loue and as some say with good cause though others say that she hath bene a long time mocked by the discouerie of a deceite Why saide Syrenus lies it then in her to perceiue it and to deliuer her selfe from it It doth saide Syluanus for I thinke there is no woman though neuer so much in loue whose wits and senses the force and passion of loue can so much blinde that may not perceiue whether she be beloued againe or not I am of a contrarie opinion saide Syrenus Of a contrarie saide Syluanus Why thou shalt not flatter thy selfe so much for the affiance which thou hadst in Dianus wordes hath cost thee deere and yet I blame thee not considering that as there is none whom her beautie ouercomes not so is there not any whom her wordes deceiue not How knowest thou that since she neuer deceiued thee by word nor deede It is true saide Syluanus that I was euer if so I may terme it vndeceiued by her but I durst by that which hath hitherto fallen out that she neuer meant any deceit to me but only to deceiue thee But let vs leaue this and harken to this Shepherdesse that is a great friend to Diana who is well worthy for the commendable report of her wisedome and good graces to be harkened vnto But now was the faire Shepherdesse comming towards the fountaine and began to sing this Sonnet following A Sonnet MIne eies once haue I seene you more contented And my poore hart more ioyfull I haue knowne thee Woe to the cause whose greefes haue ouer growne thee And yet whose sight your comforts once presented But as this cruell fortune hath inuented Sweete ioy to roote thee vp where she had sowen thee So now Seluagia she hath ouer throwen thee Thy pleasures scarce begun she hath tormented Let me to time or to his changing take me Let me with motions out of order leade me Then I shall see how free my hart is to me Then will I trust in hopes that not forsake me When I haue staide her wheeles that ouertread me And beaten downe the fates that doe vndoe me After that the Shepherdesse had made an end of her song she came directly to the fountaine where the Shepherdes were and while she was a comming Syluanus smiling saide Marke but those woâ—… and the burning sigh wherewith she ended her song what witnesses they are of her inward loue and greefe Thereof I haue no doubt saide Syrenns for I woulde to God I could so speedily remedie her sorrowe as I beleeue to my great greefe all that she hath by dolefull song vttered And talking thus together Seluagia was by this time come and knowing the Shepherds curteously saluted them saying What doe you in this greene and pleasant medow despised Shepherds Thou saiest not amisse faire Seluagia by asking vs what we doe saide Syluanus for we doe so little in respect of that we shoulde doe that we can neuer conclude and bring any thing to passe that in our loues we desire to haue Maruell not thereat saide Seluagia for there are certaine things that before they ende they that desire them are ended True saide Syluanus if a man puts his rest in a womans disposition for she will first ende his life before she will ende or determine to giue him any fauour that he is still hoping to receiue at her handes Vnhappy women are these saide Seluagia that are so ill intreated by your wordes But more vnfortunate are those men saide Syluanus that are worse handled by your deedes Can there be a thing more base and of lesse account then that you are so ready for the lightest thing in the worlde to forget them to whom you haue borne the greatest loue For absent your selues but a day from him whom you loue well and then shall he neede to commence his suite new againe Two things I gather saide Seluagia by thy speech which make me wonder not a little The one to see thy toong goe so much
awrie and contrarie to that which I euer coniectured and knew by thy behauiour and conditions For I thought when I heard thee talke of thy loue that in the same thou wert a Phoenix and that none of the best louers to this day came euer neere to the extreme that thou hadst by louing a Shepherdesse whom I knowe a cause sufficient ynough not to speake ill of women if thy malice were not greater then thy loue The second that thou speakest of a thing thou vnderstandest not for to blame forgetfulnes who neuer had any triall thereof must rather be attributed to follie and want of discretion then to any thing else For if Diana did neuer remember thee how canst thou complaine of her obliuion I thinke to answere saide Syluanus both these pointes if I shall not wearie thine eares with hearing me To the first saying That I wish I may neuer enioy any more content then now I haue if any by the greatest example that he is able to alleage me can with wordes set downe the force and power that this thanklesse and disloyall Shepherdesse whom thou knowest and I would I knew not hath ouer my subiected soule But the greater the loue is I beare her the more it greeues me that there is any thing in her that may be reprehended For heere is Syrenus who was fauoured more of Diana then any louer in the world of his Mistresse and yet she hath now forgotten him as thou faire Shepherdesse and all we doe know To the other point where thou saiest that I haue no reason to speake ill of that whereof I neuer had experience I say that the Phisition may iudge of that greefe which he himselfe neuer had and will further satisfie thee Seluagia with this opinion of me that I beare no hate to women nor in very trueth wish them ill for there is nothing in the world which I would desire to serue with more reuerence and affection But in requitall of my zealous loue I am but ill intreated and with such intolerable disdaine which made me speake so much by her who takes a pride and a glorie in giuing me such cause of greefe Syrenus who had held his peace all this while said to Seluaggia If thou would'st but listen to me faire Shepherdesse blamelesse thou wouldest hold my riuall or to speake more properly my deere friend Syluanus But tell me what is the reason that you are so inconstant that in a moment you throwe a Shepherde downe from the top of his good hap to the deepest bottome of miserie knowest thou whereunto I attribute it To nothing else but to your owne simplicitie bicause you haue no perfect vnderstanding to conceiue the good nor knowe the value of that you haue in your handes You meddle with loue and are vncapable to iudge what it meanes how doe you then knowe to behaue your selues in it I tell thee Syrenus saide Seluagia that the cause why Shepherdesses forget their louers is no other but bicause they are forgotten of them againe These are things which loue doth make and vndoe things which time and place alters and buries in silence but not for the want of womens due knowledge in them of whom there haue bene an infinite number in the world who might haue taught men to liue and to loue if loue were a thing that might be taught or learned But yet for all this there is not I thinke any baser estate of life then a womans for if they speake you faire you thinke them by and by to die for your loue if they speake not to you you thinke them proude and fantasticall if their behauiour be not to your liking you thinke them hypocrites They haue no kind of pastaunce which you thinke not to exceede if they holde their peace you say they are fooles if they speake you say they are so troublesome that none will abide to heare them if they loue you the most in the world you thinke they goe about to deceiue you if they forget you and flie the occasions of bringing their good names in question you say they are inconstant and neuer firme in one minde and purpose So that the good or ill woman can doe no more to please your mindes then neuer to exceede the limits of your desires and dispositions If euery one faire Seluagia saide Syrenus were indued with this finenesse of wit and graue vnderstanding as thou art they woulde neuer giue vs occasions to make vs complaine of their small regarde in their loue But bicause we may knowe what reason thou hast to finde thy selfe so much aggreeued with it so may God giue thee comfort needefull for such an ill as thou wouldest vouchsafe to tell vs the substance of thy loue and all the occurrents which haue hitherto befallen thee therein For it seemes thou canst tell vs more of ours then we are able to informe thee to see if his effects which thou hast passed will giue thee leaue to speake so freely as thou dost for by thy wordes thou seemest to haue more experience in them then any woman that euer I knewe If I were not the most tried woman in them saide Seluagia I am at the lest the worst intreated by them as any euer was and such an one who with greater reason then the rest may complaine of loues franticke effects a thing sufficient to make one speake ynough in it And bicause by that which is past thou maiest knowe that which I now suffer to be a diuellish kinde of passion commit your misfortunes a while to silence and I will tel you greater then euer you heard before IN the mightie and inuincible kingdome of Portugall run two great riuers which wearied with watring the greater part of our Spaine not far from one another enter into the maine Ocean Betweene both which are situated many olde and ancient townes by reason of the great fertilitie of the soile which hath not the like in the whole world The inhabitants liues of this prouince are so much sequestred and estranged from things that may disturbe the minde that there is not any but when Venus by the mightie handes of her blinde sonne meanes to shew her power who troubles his minde more then to sustaine a quiet life by maintaining a meane and competent liuing with those things which for their poore estates are requisite The mens endeuours are naturally disposed to spend their life time in sufficient content the womens beauties to take it from him who liueth most assured of his libertie There are many houses in the shadowed forrestes and pleasant vales the which being nourished by the siluer deaw of soueraine heauen tilled by their inhabitants fauourable sommer forgetteth not to offer vp into their handes the fruites of their owne trauels and prouision for the necessitie of their liues I liued in a village neere to great Duerus one of these two riuers where Minerua hath a most stately temple built vnto her the which in
Thither he came and there we were talking together as long as time woulde giue vs leaue and the loue of my side at the lest was so strongly confirmed betweene vs that though the deceit had bene discouered as not many daies after it was knowne it was yet of so great force and vertue that it coulde neuer make me alienate my minde and affection from him And I also beleeued that Alanius loued me well and that especially from that time he was greatly enamoured of me though afterwardes in effect he did not so well declare it so that for certaine daies together our loue happily continued and was handled with the greatest secrecie that might be which was not yet so great but that subtile Ismenia in the end perceiued it who seeing her selfe to be the onely cause thereof and most in fault not onely by deceiuing me but by ministring occasion to Alanius of discouering himselfe and by that which passed to fall in loue with me and to forget her as indeede he did for very greefe was almost out of her wits but that with this poore hope she comforted her selfe againe that if I knew the trueth I would immediately forget and cast him off wherein she was not a little deceiued for as he afterwardes loued me more and more so by his seuerall beauties and singular deserts I was more obliged to loue and honour him But Ismenia purposing to open the deceite which by her owne follie and suttletie she had framed wrote me this letter following Ismenias letter to Seluagia IF we are bound to loue those well Seluagia that loue vs there is nothing in the world which I ought to esteeme deerer then thy selfe but if to hate them that are the cause why we are forgotten and despised I leaue it to thine owne discretion I would put thee in some fault for casting thine eies vpon my Alanius but wretched woman what shall I doe that am the organ of mine owne mishap O Seluagia to my greefe I sawe thee and well could I excuse that which I passed with thee but in the end such fonde prankes haue seldome good successe For laughing but one little hower with my Alanius and telling him what had passed betweene vs I must now weepe and lament all my life time if my greefe at the lest may not mooue thee to some remorse of pitie I beseech thee by all I may that the discouerie of this deceite may suffice and so worke with thee to make thee forget my Alanius and restore this haplesse Shepherdesse to that which being not a little thou art able to doe if loue will permit thee to graunt me this fauour which I request at thy hands When I had read this letter and imparted it to Alanius he then at large vnfolded vnto me the maner of her deceit but not one word of the loue that was betweene them both whereof I made no great reckoning for I was so assured of that which he seemed to beare me that I woulde neuer beleeue that any passed or future thoughts might haue bene an occasion to haue made him afterwardes forget me But bicause Ismenia might not by my silence thinke me discurteous I answered her letter thus Seluagias letter to Ismenia I Knowe not faire Ismenia whether I may iustly accuse thee or giue thee thankes for disposing my minde and affection in this sort nor can resolue with my selfe whether of these two I should doe vntill the successe of my loue doe counsell me heerein On the one side I am sorie for thy ill hap on the other I see that thou wentst foorth as it were to meete and imbrace it Seluagia was free when thou didst delude her in the temple and is now subiect to his will into whose handes thou wouldst needes deliuer her Thou praiest me to leaue off the loue that I beare Alanius with that which thou thy selfe wouldst doe in this behalfe I may easily answere thee Yet one thing makes me very sad that thou art greeued for that for which thou hast no iust cause of complaint which to the patient therof giueth the greatest paine in the world I do often consider thinke of those faire eies with which thou didst behold me and of that sweete face which after many importunate requestestes thou didst shew me and it greeues me Ismenia that such faire things and so like to my Alanius should suffer any sorrow and discontentment at all Behold then what remedie is left for thy greefe that for the bountie which thou hast vsed towardes me by giuing me the most precious gemme thou hadst I kisse thy faire and daintie hands which curtesie of thine being so great God graunt that by some meanes or other I may be able to requite If thou seest my Alanius there tell him I pray thee what reason he hath to loue me for he knoweth already how much he hath to forget thee And God glue thee the content thou desirest which may not be to the cost of that which I haue by seeing my affection so happily and well imploied Ismenia could not reade this letter to the end for in the middest of it her sighes and teares which she powred out were so many that she thought at that very time to haue lost her life She laboured as much as she could to make Alanius forsake me and deuised so many meanes for the same purpose as he to shun those places and occasions whereby he thought he might see her Not that he meant her any harme thereby but bicause he thought by doing so in some part he requited the great loue that I bare him All the daies that he liued in this minde there escaped not any wherein I sawe him not for he passed euermore that way feeding his flockes which from our towne did leade to his He accounted no trauels nor troubles too great which he did for my sake and especially if he thought I regarded them Day by day Ismenia inquired after him and neuer ceased to seeke him out who being sometimes tolde by others and sometimes knowing her selfe that he was in our towne had no patience at all to suffer such a corsiue at her hart And yet for all this there was not anything that contented and pacified her troubled minde more then when she could get some little time to speake with him But as necessitie is so ingenious and politike that it seekes out remedies where mans wit can scarce imagine any despised Ismenia aduentured to helpe her selfe by one which I woulde to God had neuer entred into her thought by faining that she extremely loued another Shepherd called Montanus who a long time had loued and serued her before And as she purposed so she put it in practise to trie if by this sudden change she might draw Alanius to that which so much she desired For there is not any thing which a man thinks he hath most sure though making but a small account thereof but that the losse of it if on a
sudden he loose it doth not a little greeue him But now when Montanus perceiued that faire Ismenia his loue and Mistresse had at last mollified her long obdurate hart and now thought good to requite the great loue that he had so long time borne her Shepherdes you may well imagine what content he felt For so great was his ioy so obsequious his seruices to her and so many troubles that he passed for her sake that they were an occasion with the disfauours and contempt that Alanius had shewen her to make that fained loue prooue true which but in iest she began to beare him So that Ismenia yeelded her hart wholy to Montanus with such firmnesse that there was not any in the world whom she loued more then him nor whom she desired lesse to see then my Alanius the which as soone as she could she gaue him to vnderstand thinking that as by these meanes she was sufficiently reuenged of his for getfulnesse she had likewise busied my head with the cruell thought therof The loue that Alanius did beare me although it greeued him to the hart to see Ismenia loue that Shepherd whō in all his life time he could neuer abide was yet so great that he neuer seemed to make any shew of his secret greese But certaine daies passing on and thinking with himselfe that he onely was the cause of his enemies good hap and of those singular fauours that Ismenia shewed him and that the Shepherdesse did now shun his sight who not long since before died for the want thereof despite wroth and iealousie at once so fiercely assailed him that his impatience had almost bereft him of his wits if presently he had not determined to hinder Montanus his good fortune or in the pursuite thereof to haue lost his deerest life For performance whereof he began to looke on Ismenia againe and not to come so openly in my sight as he was wont to doe nor to be so often out of his towne least Ismenia might haue knowen it The loue betweene her and Montanus went not on so forwardes as that betweene me and my Alanius backwardes though not of my part when nothing but death was able to diuorce my minde from him but of his in whom I neuer thought to see such a sudden change For so extremely he bumed with choler and rancour against Montanus and so deepely enuied his good fortune that he thought he could not execute nor asswage that anger but by renewing the olde loue that he bare to Ismenia for furtherance whereof his comming to out towne was a great impediment whose absence from me as it engendred forgetfulnesse in him so the presence of his Ismenia rekindled his hart with a straunger kinde of loue then before whereupon he returned againe to his fust thoughts And I poore soule remained all alone deceiued and scorned in mine owne affection But all the seruice that he bestowed on Ismenia the tokens and letters that he sent her and the pitifull complaints that he made vnto her or any thing els that he was able to doe could neuer mooue her fetled minde nor make her forget the lest part of that loue which she bare Montanus I being therefore lost for the loue of Alanius Alanius dying for Ismenia and Ismenia for Montanus it fell out that my father had a certame occasion of busines about the buttals of certaine pastures with Phylenus father to Montanus by reason whereof both of them came often to our towne and in such a time that Mont anus whether it was for the superfluous fauours that Ismenia bestowed on him which to men of a base minde is a cloying or whether he was too iealous of the renewed and earnest suites of Alanius waxed very colde in his loue to Ismenia In the end when he espied me driuing my sheepe to the folde and with a curious eie looking on me he began presently to be enamoured of me so that by the effects which he daily shewed it was not possible for me to beare greater affection to Alanius nor Alanius to Ismenia nor Ismenia to Montanus nor Montanus to loue me more then in very trueth he did Beholde what a strange cousinage of loue If Ismenia went by chaunce to the fielde Alanius went after her if Montanus went to his flockes Ismenia after him if I went to the hils with my sheepe Montanus after me if I knew that Alanius was in the wood where he was wont to seede his flocks thither I hied me after him And it was the strangest thing in the world to heart how Alanius sighing saide Ah my Ismenia and how Ismenia saide Ah my Montanus and how Montanus said Ah my Seluagia and how Seluagia saide Ah my Alanius It fell out afterwardes on a day that we fower met together in a forrest that lay betweene all our townes and the reason was bicause Ismenia went to visite certaine Shepherdesses of her acquaintance which dwelt thereabouts which when Alanius knew being forced and driuen on by his fleeting thoughts he went after to seeke her out and found her neere to a fine spring kembing her golden haire I being tolde by a certaine Shepherd my neighbout that Alanius was gone to the forrest of the valley for so it was called tooke out before me a few goates that were shut vp in a little yarde neere to our house bicause I would not goe without some errant and went after him where my desire guided me whom by chaunce I found weeping and complaining of his ill fortune and the Shepherdesse laughing and iesting at his bootlesse teares and sighes When Ismenia espied me she was not a little glad of my companie and began to be merry with me although I had no cause to be so with her to whom I rather obiected the small reason and lesse regarde of modestie and discretion she had to greeue my hart with that vnciuill part and bad deceit whereof she so wisely excused herselfe that whereas I thought she would haue made me some amendes for all my greefe and sorrow by her wise and well ordered reasons she gaue me to vnderstand that I was rather bound to her in that if she had mocked me I had saide she satisfied my selfe as well and requited her againe not onely by taking Alanius her cosin from her whom she loued more then her selfe but also by enticing Montanus to my loue from that he was wont to shew her By this time came Montanus who was tolde by a Shepherdesse a friend of mine called Solisa that I was gone to the forrest of the valley with my goates And when all the fower discontented and discordant louers met there together it cannot be imagined what we all felt for euery one looked vpon another that would not haue bene viewed of those eies againe I asked my Alanius the cause of his forgetfulnes he sued for mercie at craftie Ismenias handes she accused and complained of the colde loue of Montanus he of Seluagias cruelty Being therefore in
this sort as you haue heard euery one tormented for them who loued them not againe Alanius to the tune of his Fiddle by this dolefull song began to complaine of Ismenias crueltie NO more O cruell Nymph now hast thou prayed Ynough in thy reuenge prooue not thine ire On him that yeeldes the fault is now apayed Vntomy cost now mollifie thy dire Hardnes and brest of thine so much obdured And now raise vp though lately it hath erred A poore repenting soule that in the obscured Darknes of thy obliuion lies enterred For it fals not in that that doth commend thee That such a Swaine as I may once offend thee If that the little sheepe with speede is flying From angrie Shepherd with his wordes affraied And runneth here and there with fearfull crying And with great greefe is from the flocke estraied But when it now perceiues that none doth follow And all alone so far estraying mourneth Knowing what danger it is in with hollow And fainting bleates then fearefull it returneth Vnto the flocke meaning no more to leaue it Should it not be a iust thing to receiue it Lift vp these eies Ismenia which so stately To view me thou hast lifted vp before me That libertie which was mine owne but lately Giue me againe and to the same restore me And that milde hart so full of loue and pittie Which thou didst yeeld to me and euer owe me Behold my Nymph I was not then so witty To knowe that sincere loue that thou didst shew me Now wofull man full well I knowe and rue it Although it was too late before I knew it How could it be my enemie say tell me How thou in greater fault and errour being Then euer I was thought should'st thus repell me And with new league and cruell title seeing Thy faith so pure and woorthy to be changed And what is that Ismenia that doth binde it To loue whereas the same is most estranged And where it is impossible to finde it But pardon me if herein I abuse thee Since that the cause thou gau'st me doth excuse me But tell me now what honour hast thou gained Auenging such a fault by thee committed And thereunto by thy occasion trained What haue I done that I haue not acquitted Or what excesse that is not amply paied Or suffer more that I haue not endured What cruell minde what angry brest displaied With sauage hart to fiercenes so adiured Would not such mor tall greefe make milde and tender But that which my fell Shepherdesse doth render Now as I have perceiued well thy reasons Which thou hast had or hast yet to forget me The paines the greefes the guiltes of forced treasons That I haue done wherein thou first didst set me The passions and thine cares and eies refusing To heare and see me meaning to vndoe me Cam'st thou to know or be but once perusing Th'vnsought occasions which thou gau'st vnto me Thou should'st not haue wherewith to more torment me Nor I to pay the fault my rashnes lent me Thus did my Alanius end his sweet song wherewith I would my life had also ended not without great cause since my mishap could not be more extreme then to see him whom I loued more then my selfe before mine eies to pine so much for the loue of another and so strangely to forsake me But as I was not alone in these misfortunes I did dissemble them for that time as well as I could as also bicause faire Ismenia casting her eies vpon her Montanus began to sing that which followeth HOw fond am I to hope for any rest In endlesse plaints vaine sighes and bootelesse teares The present now at hand to be exprest Yet few to these that with ten thousand feares I haue powr'd out vnto thy cruell eares And if at any time my life did tend To other loues in earnest or in iest This loue by that I neuer could offend Bicause I did but then begin to prooue And learne how well Montanus I could loue Then did I learne to loue my selfe I taught To loue by him who lou'd me not againe For I suspected that I should be brought Vnto thy loue Montanus when in vaine I loued him that did my loue disdaine I try'de I say my free and carelesse hart Of loue to taste some sorrow that it sought And let that Shepherd with his loue depart That loues with thee for all his paine and greefe Is but in vaine when vaine is his releefe Let none accuse me then if I disdaine Alanius loues whose loues are but a showe For I could neuer loue nor entertaine Any but thee for whom I will bestowe My deerest life since heauens will haue it soe And if at any time I fein'd to like I lik'd I say but how I did I knowe For neuer any Shepherd els could strike My hart indeede but thou to whom I giue My faith kept for thee since I first did liue Let burning sighes go forth and still increase Let both mine eies become two springs of teares Let accidents repugnant to mine ease Arise for thoughts which now my minde for sweares Shall neuer hurt that loue which now it beares Let sorrow goe and ill which way they will And now let ioies returne which way they please For where they are there will I houer still Since that no harme my purpose may reclame Nor cruell death it selfe although it came Ismenia by this song had reuenged me of cruell and disloyall Alanius if in the loue at the lest which I did beare him any desire of reuenge could befall but Montanus staied not long from requiting Ismenia againe who casting his eie vpon me sung this song as followeth FOolish loue ah foolish louer I for thee thou for another I am a foole and seeme no lesse For thee who will not be For he 's a foole I doe confesse That is not one for thee And yet this doth not well agree To be a foolish louer Or foole for her that is a foole for louing of another Now seeing thee thou seest not mee And diest for my foe Eate me with sauce that loueth thee Of him thou louest soe So shalt thou make me to my woe To be a foolish louer And such a foole for louing thee as thou art for another When he had made an ende of the last verses notwithstanding the present agonie and sorrow that we al suffered we could not choose but laugh hartily to see how Montanus would haue me deceiue my taste by looking on him with the sauce and appetite of Alanius whom I loued as if it might haue fallen in the compasse of my thought to suffer it to be deceiued by the apparance of an other thing But now with greater firmnesse then the rest I began to tune and play on my Bagpipe and to sing a song to it as you shall heare for by the same I thought to shew how more constantly then any of the rest there I had perseuered in my loue to
or feele this hower When torments waste their force and seuerall power Who made my Shepherdesses tresses twist all Of fine Arabian gold not gilt-like shining Her face of cleerest and of chosen christ all Her rubie lips two rowes of pearle combining Her dymond eies like to those stars aboue all Her necke that whitest Allablaster stayneth Her passing wit inforcing vs to loue all Her stately minde that all our loues disdaineth Why made shee not her hart of melting matter Then of such marble stone so hard to batter One day I do conforme me to my fortune And to my griefe that faire Diana causeth Next day mine yll doth vex me and importune My soule with thoughts of griefe that seldome pauseth Cruell and fierce and inhumane I call her And so there is no order in my sorrow For afterwards in phrases I install her What now I say I do deny to morrow And all is thus leading a life in anguish Which soone mine eies may see by death to languish When faire Seluagia knew the Shepherd Syluanus by his voice she went to him and saluting one another with curteous and louing words they sat them downe vnder the shadow of a thicke and leafie mirtle in the mids of a little medow which for the diuersitie of fine golden flowers wherewith it was spotted more then their sorrowfull thoughts could desire was most pleasant to the wandring eie And Syluanus began to speake in this sort The diuersitie of so many vnaccustomed mishaps that daily harme vs woefull true louers cannot be faire Seluagia without griefe and compassion of minde considered But amongst them all there is none me thinks that ought to be so much feared as that which he suffers who hath once seene himselfe in a good and ioyfull estate the which by experience as yesterday thou didst tell me I neuer came yet to know for the life which I passe is so far from rest and deliuered vp to sorrowfull imaginations that a thousand times in vaine I seeke out new inuentions and means to deceiue and alter my tast For remedy wherof I do sometimes think That I am deerely beloued of my mistresse which thought without opening any further passage to this fiction I retaine as long as I can in my mind but when I consider afterwards the truth of my estate I am so confounded with my selfe as I am not able to expresse it and then against my will am voide of all patience since then a bare imagination is not such a thing that may be suffered behold what the truth is able to do I would to God Syluanus I were free said Seluagia from this franticke passion that I might speake the better in it as in such a case it were most needfull For thou canst not know any greater signe of loue whether it be little or much or of passion whether it be small or great then by hearing her tell it that feeles it for a passion extremely felt can neuer be well manifested by her toong that suffers it So that I being subiect to my mishap and sorrowfull for that disgrace which Alanius doth me am not with words able to expresse the Chaos of griefe wherin I am ouerwhelmed Wherefore I leaue it to thy consideration and iudgement as to things wherin I may put an assured confidence and trust I know not Seluagia what to say replied Syluanus sighing nor what remedies we may hope for of our harms dost thou perhaps know any How should I not know said Seluagia And wottest thou what it is To leaue of to loue And this maiest thou do thy selfe said Syluanus As fortune and time shall ordaine saide Seluagia Then I tell thee said Syluanus maruelling much that thou needest not trouble thy selfe so much by complayning of thy griefe bicause that loue which is subiect to time and fortune cannot be so extreme to giue one any trouble or paine that suffers it And canst thou deny said Seluagia againe that it is not possible to haue an end in thy loue either by death or absence or by being fauoured in some other place where thy sutes seruices may be more esteemed and better recompenced I will not make my selfe saide Syluanus such an hypocrite in loue that I will not graunt what thou saiest may be possible but not in me For woe betide that louer that though he see such fortune fall to others would haue so little constancie in his loue to thinke that any thing contrary to his faith may befall vnto him I am a woman said Seluagia and thou shalt see by me if I loue not as much as any may And yet this offendes not my loue to thinke that there may be an end of euery thing be they neuer so firme and strong since it is the propertie of time and fortune with their vsuall changes to alter all things as they haue euer done And thinke not Shepherd that any obliuious thought of his loue that hath so iniuriously forgotten me makes me speake this but that which I haue seene by experience in these passions And talking thus together they heard a Shepherd singing as he came along the medow before them whom they knew by and by to be the forgotten Syrenus who to the tune of his Rebecke came singing this Sonnet GOe now my thoughts where one day you were going When neither fortune nor my loue did lower Now shall you see that changed day and hower Your ioies decaied and vncouth sorrowes growing And in the glasse where I was oft bestowing Mine eies and in that sweete and pleasant flower A sluggish drone vnwoorthely deuower That honie which for me sometimes was flowing And you shall see to whom I did surrender My subiect life that causelesse did despise it And though this ill no remedy can borrow Yet tell her that my minde did once ingender A feare of that vvhich after to mine eyes yet She makes more plaine to end my life in sorrow After Syrenus had made an end of his Sonnet he sawe faire Seluagia and Syluanus comming towards him whereof he was not a little glad and after some curteous salutations between them they determined to go to the fountaine of the Sicamours where they had beene the day before but before they were come thither Syluanus said Hearke do you not heare certaine voices singing Yes said Seluagia and me thinks of more then one Where might it be said Syrenus In the meadowe of the Laurell trees said Syluanus in the mids whereof the spring that comes out of this cleere fountaine so pleasantly runneth It shall not be amisse for vs to go thither but so softly that they that are singing may not perceiue or heare vs lest we breake off their sweete musicke Let vs go said Seluagia and so step by step they went towards the place where they heard that singing hiding themselues behind certaine trees neere vnto the brook they saw three Nymphes sitting vpon the golden flowers of such excellent beauty that it seemed nature had
three Nymphes in so great distresse and the effray betweene the two Sauages and the Shepherdes who now looked for nothing more then present death by putting quickly a sharpe headed arrow into her bowe with no meane force and skill she shot it at one of the Sauages leauing it halfe hidden in his hard brest whereby the arrow of loue that pearced his hart lost the force and the Sauage his life Neither was she slowe in putting another in her bowe nor lesse skilfull in shooting it for with the same she as well ended the enamoured passions of the second Sauage as of the first But setling her selfe to shoote at the third that was keeping the three Nymphes she could not so soone effect it but that he came running in to her within the length of his club and had surely dispatched her with one blowe if the faire Shepherdesse by lifting vp her knottie staffe as he was discharging vpō her had not taken it vpon the iron point whereby his club brake in two peeces and immediately requited him with another vpon the top of his crowne wherewith she made him stagger on his knees and then running a thrust at his face and with such force and aime it was that pearcing his eies her staffe made speedie passage thorow his braines so that the fierce Sauage yelling out a horrible and lowde grone fell downe dead to the ground The Nymphes seeing themselues deliuered from so great violence and the Shepherdes and Shepherdesses from expected death whereunto they were so neere and how by the admirable valour and strength of that Shepherdesse not onely they but the Shepherdes had escaped they were in a traunce for a while and could not afterwardes imagine her to be any humane wight But the Shepherdesse comming now vnto them began to vntie their handes saying They deserued no lesse punishment then that they haue faire Nymphes that with these rude and rough bonds durst presume to binde such white and delicate hands whose beauties are fitter to binde tender and relenting harts Accursed be such proude monsters and ill befall to such senselesse and beastly men but Ladies they haue their hire and I my desire by hauing done you this small seruice and comming in so good a time with speedie remedie for such an outrage although these hardie Shepherdes and faire Shepherdesse deserue no lesse thankes for hazarding their liues in your defence who woulde no doubt like my selfe haue thought them well emploied and themselues well appaied if in so good a quarrell and for such woorthy personages they had ioyntly lost them The Nymphes were no lesse amazed at her rare beautie and wisedome then at the courage and force that she had shewed in their defence whereupon Doria with a gratious semblant answered her thus againe Faire Shepherdesse if thou art not as by thy approoued valour and braue minde thou seemest to be the daughter of inuincible Mars yet for thy beautie which is celestiall thou must needes be the daughter of louely Venus and faire Adonis and if of neither of them it cannot then otherwise be but that Minerua must be thy mother since such great wisedome cannot proceed from any other part although it is most true that nature hath endowed thee with the principall of them all And since for so strange a curtesie and good turne that thou hast done vs extraordinarie and great must the seruices be wherewith they must be requited we hope that at somtime or other occasion may be offered wherein thou maiest knowe what earnest desire and entyre good wils we haue to repaie so singular woorthie a fauor But bicause it seemes thou art wearie let vs go to the fountaine of the Sicamours neere to yonder wood where thou maist rest and refresh thy selfe Let vs goe ladie said the Shepherdesse not so much to ease my wearied body as to talke of other matters wherin my soules health and the summe of my content doth chiefely consist That will we do with all possible diligence said Polydora since there is not any whom we should with greater reason endeuor to content then thy selfe But faire Cynthia turning to the Shepherdes said The debt faire Shepherdesse and stout Shepherds wherein you haue perpetually bound vs to you your selues know well ynough which though we are neuer able to acquite yet we will not cease to wish that some occasion may heereafter fall out wherein we may shewe the earnest will and affection we haue to discharge it according to our great desire These thankes faire Nymphes answered Seluagia and your gentle offers are more due to these two Shepherds then to me that could do no more then praie for your safe deliuerie But is this the Shepherd Syrenus said Polydora so much beloued in times past as now forgotten of the faire Diana And is this other his corriuall Syluanus They are the same saide Seluagia Then am I glad said Polydora that you are such kind of men whom we may in some part recompence the great good will you shewed and the perill you passed to set vs free Doria woondring at that she had heard said And is it true that this is Syrenus I am very glad that I haue founde thee and that there is an occasion ministred me to seeke out some remedie which I hope shall not be small for thy great cares and sorrow Nor sufficient ynough for so great griefe if it be small saide Syrenus Let vs go to the fountaine saide Polydora where we will at large discourse of these and other matters To the which when they were come the Nymphes placing the Shepherdesse in the middes of them sat them downe and the Shepherds at the Nymphes requests went to the next towne to prouide some victuals bicause it was now somewhat late and that they all had an appetite to eate But the three Nymphes remaining all alone with the vnknowne Shepherdesle faire Doria thus began to say vnto her It is no lesse strange to vs to see such an one as thou art most valiant and faire Shepherdesse of such valour and strength in these plaines and woods sequestred from all popular concourse then to thee I thinke to see three Nymphes heere all alone and without companie to defend them from the like assaults But bicause we may knowe what thou art which is our chiefe desire we will inforce that fauour with this small desert by telling thee first what we are for the better knowledge wherof thou shalt vnderstand couragious Shepherdesse that this Nymph is called Polydora that Cynthia and my selfe Doria we hauing our mansion place in Dianas wood where sage Felicia keepes her stately court whose course of life and onely exercise is to cure and remedie the passions of loue We going to visit a certaine Nymph her cousin that liueth on this side of the Gallician hils came by chance to this pleasant and shadowed dale where seeing the place fit to passe away the heate of the noone day vnder the shadowe of these
man in the world for her sudden death for greefe whereof within a little while after he also died And bicause you may knowe faire Nymphes in what great extremities loue hath put me you must vnderstand that being a woman of that qualitie and disposition as you haue heard I haue bene forced by my cruell destinie to leaue my naturall habit and libertie and the due respect of mine honour to follow him who thinkes perhaps that I doe but leese it by louing him so extremely Behold how bootelesse and vnseemely it is for a woman to be so dextrous in armes as if it were her proper nature and kinde wherewith faire Nymphes I had neuer bene indued but that by meanes thereof I should come to doe you this little seruice against these villaines which I account no lesse then if fortune had begun to satisfie in part some of those infinite wrongs that she hath continually done me The Nymphes were so amazed at her words that they coulde neither aske nor answere any thing to that the faire Shepherdesse tolde them who prosecuting her historie saide My brother and I were brought vp in a Nunnerie where an aunt of ours was Abbesse vntill we had accomplished twelue yeeres of age at what time we were taken from thence againe and my brother was caried to the mightie and inuincible King of Portugall his Court whose noble fame and princely liberalitie was bruted ouer all the world where being growen to yeeres able to manage armes he atchieued as valiant and almost incredible enterprises by them as he suffered vnfortunate disgraces and foiles by loue And with all this he was so highly fauoured of that magnificent King that he would neuer suffer him to depart from his Court Vnfortunate I reserued by my sinister destinies to greater mishaps was caried to a grandmother of mine which place I would I had neuer seene since it was an occasion of such a sorrowfull life as neuer any woman suffered the like And bicause there is not any thing faire Nymphes which I am not forced to tell you as well for the great vertue and desertes which your excellent beauties doe testifie as also for that my minde doth giue me that you shall be no small part and meanes of my comfort knowe that as I was in my grandmothers house and almost seuenteene yeeres olde a certaine yoong Gentleman fell in loue with me who dwelt no further from our house then the length of a garden Terrasse so that he might see me euery sommers night when I walked in the garden When as therefore ingratefull Felix had beheld in that place the vnfortunate Felismena for this is the name of the wofull woman that tels you her mishaps he was extremely enamoured of me or else did cunningly dissemble it I not knowing then whether of these two I might beleeue but am now assured that whosoeuer beleeues lest or nothing at all in these affaires shall be most at ease Many daies Don Felix spent in endeuouring to make me know the paines which he suffered for me and many more did I spende in making the matter strange and that he did not suffer them for my sake And I know not why loue delaied the time so long by forcing me to loue him but onely that when he came indeed he might enter into my hart at once and with greater force and violence When he had therefore by sundrie signes as by Tylt and Tourneyes and by prauncing vp and downe vpon his proude Iennet before my windowes made it manifest that he was in loue with me for at the first I did not so well perceiue it he determined in the end to write a letter vnto me and hauing practised diuers times before with a maide of mine and at length with many gifts and faire promises gotten her good will and furtherance he gaue her the letter to deliuer to me But to see the meanes that Rosina made vnto me for so was she called the dutifull seruices and vnwoonted circumstances before she did deliuer it the others that she sware vnto me and the subtle words and serious protestations she vsed it was a pleasant thing and woorthie the noting To whom neuerthelesse with an angrie countenance I turned againe saying If I had not regard of mine owne estate and what heereafter might be said I would make this shamelesse face of thine be knowne euer after for a marke of an impudent and bolde minion But bicause it is the first time let this suffice that I haue saide and giue thee warning to take heede of the second Me thinkes I see now the craftie wench how she helde her peace dissembling very cunningly the sorrow that she conceiued by my angrie answer for she fained a counterfaite smiling saying Iesus Mistresse I gaue it you bicause you might laugh at it and not to mooue your pacience with it in this sort for if I had any thought that it woulde haue prouoked you to anger I praie God he may shew his wrath as great towards me as euer he did to the daughter of any mother And with this she added many wordes more as she could do well enough to pacifie the fained anger and ill opinion that I conceiued of her and taking her letter with her she departed from me This hauing passed thus I began to imagine what might ensue thereof and loue me thought did put a certaine desire into my minde to see the letter though modestie shame forbad me to aske it of my maide especially for the wordes that had passed betweene vs as you haue heard And so I continued all that day vntill night in varietie of many thoughts But when Rosina came to helpe me to bedde God knowes how desirous I was to haue her entreat me againe to take the letter but she woulde neuer speake vnto me about it nor as it seemed did so much as once thinke thereof Yet to trie if by giuing her some occasion I might preuaile I saide vnto her And is it so Rosina that Don Felix without any regard to mine honour dares write vnto me These are things Mistresse saide she demurely to me againe that are commonly incident to loue wherfore I beseech you pardon me for if I had thought to haue angred you with it I woulde haue first pulled out the bals of mine eies How cold my hart was at that blow God knowes yet did I dissemble the matter and suffer my selfe to remaine that night onely with my desire and with occasion of little sleepe And so it was indeede for that me thought was the longest and most painfull night that euer I passed But when with a slower pace then I desired the wished day was come the discreet subtle Rosina came into my chamber to helpe me to make me readie in dooing whereof of purpose she let the letter closely fall which when I perceiued what is that that fell downe said I let me see it It is nothing Mistresse saide she Come come let me
Page played his part by depainting foorth their properties in their liuely colours And because I thought nothing more commodious for my rest and for the enioying of my desire then to follow Fabius his counsell I answered him thus In truth I determined to serue none but now since fortune hath offered me so good a seruice and at such a time when I am constrained to take this course of life I shall not do amisse if I frame my selfe to the seruiee of some Lord or Gentleman in this Court but especially of your Master because he seemes to be a woorthy Gentleman and such an one that makes more reckoning of his seruants then an other Ha thou knowest him not as well as I said Fabius for I promise thee by the faith of a Gentleman for I am one in deede for my father comes of the Cachopines of Laredo that my Master Don Felix is the best natured Gentleman that euer thou knewest in thy life and one who vseth his Pages better then any other And were it not for those troublesome loues which makes vs runne vp and downe more and sleepelesse then we woulde there were not such a Master in the whole worlde againe In the end faire Nymphes Fabius spake to his Master Don Felix as soone as he was come foorth in my behalfe who commanded me the same night to come to him at his lodging Thither I went and he entertained me for his Page making the most of me in the worlde where being but a fewe daies with him I sawe the messages letters and gifts that were brought and caried on both sides greeuous wounds alas coruiues to my dying hart which made my soule to flie sometimes out of my body euery hower in hazard to leese my forced patience before euery one But after one moneth was past Don Felix began to like so well of me that he disclosed his whole loue vnto me from the beginning vnto the present estate and forwardnes that it was then in committing the charge thereof to my secrecie and helpe telling me that he was fauoured of her at the beginning and that afterwards she waxed wearie of her louing and accustomed entertainment the cause whereof was a secret report whosoeuer it was that buzzed it into her eares of the loue that he did beare to a Lady in his owne countrey and that his present loue vnto her was but to entertaine the time while his busines in the Court were dispatched And there is no doubt saide Don Felix vnto me but that indeede I did once commence that loue that she laies to my charge but God knowes if now there be any thing in the world that I loue and esteeme more deere and precious then her When I heard him say so you may imagine faire Nymphes what a mortall dagger pierced my wounded heart But with dissembling the matter the best I coulde I answered him thus It were better sir me thinkes that the Gentlewoman should complaine with cause and that it were so indeed for if the other Ladie whom you serued before did not deserue to be forgotten of you you do her vnder correction my Lord the greatest wrong in the world The loue said Don Felix againe which I beare to my Celia will not let me vnderstand it so but I haue done her me thinkes the greater iniurie hauing placed my loue first in an other and not in her Of these wrongs saide I to my selfe I know who beares the woorst away And disloyall he pulling a letter out of his bosome which he had receiued the same hower from his Mistresse reade it vnto me thinking that he did me a great fauour thereby the contents whereof were these Celias letter to Don Felix NEuer any thing that I suspected touching thy loue hath beene so farre from the truth that hath not giuen me occasion to beleeue more often mine owne imagination then thy innocencie wherein if I do thee any wrong referre it but to the censure of thine owne follie For well thou mightest haue denied or not declared thy passed loue without giuing me occasion to condemne thee by thine owne confession Thou saiest I was the cause that made thee forget thy former loue Comfort thy selfe for there shall not want another to make thee forget thy second And assure thy selfe of this Lord Don Felix that there is not any thing more vnbeseeming a Gentleman then to finde an occasion in a Gentlewoman to leese himselfe for her loue I will saie no more but that in an ill where there is no remedie the best is not to seeke out any After he had made an end of reading the letter he said vnto me What thinkest thou Valerius of these words With pardon be it spoken my Lord That your deedes are shewed by them Go to said Don Felix and speake no more of that Sir saide I they must like me wel if they like you because none can iudge better of their words that loue well then they themselues But that which I thinke of the letter is that this Gentlewoman would haue beene the first and that Fortune had entreated her in such sort that all others might haue enuied her estate But what wouldest thou counsell me saide Don Felix If thy griefe doth suffer any counsell saide I that thy thoughts be diuided into this second passion since there is so much due to the first Don Felix answered me againe sighing and knocking me gently on the shoulder saying How wise art thou Valerius and what good counsell dost thou giue me if I could follow it Let vs now go in to dinner for when I haue dined I will haue thee carie me a letter to my Lady Celia and then thou shalt see if any other loue is not woorthy to be forgotten in lieu of thinking onely of her These were wordes that greeued Felismena to the hart but bicause she had him before her eies whom she loued more then her-selfe the content that she had by onely seeing him was a sufficient remedie of the paine that the greatest of these stings did make her feele After Don Felix had dined he called me vnto him and giuing me a speciall charge what I should do because he had imparted his griefe vnto me and put his hope and remedie in my hands he willed me to carie a letter to Celia which he had alreadie written and reading it first vnto me it said thus Don Felix his letter to Celia THe thought that seekes an occasion to forget the thing which it doth loue and desire suffers it selfe so easily to be knowne that without troubling the minde much it may be quickly discerned And thinke not faire Ladie that I seeke a remedie to excuse you of that wherewith it pleased you to vse me since I neuer came to be so much in credit with you that in lesser things I woulde do it I haue confessed vnto you that indeede I once loued well because that true loue without dissimulation doth not suffer any thing
they thinke by any meanes to receiue it If I should tell thee faire Shepherdesse that I could helpe thy greefe what doth it auaile if the same will not giue thee leaue to beleeue me To tell thee that in thine owne iudgement and discretion thou dost help thy selfe I know thou hast it not so free that thou canst do it Of one thing yet good Shepherdesse thou maist be assured that there is no meanes in the whole world to rid thee from this painfull life which I would not giue then if it lay in my power And if this good will deserueth any thing at all I beseech thee for their sakes that are heete present and for mine owne to tell vs the cause of thy greefe because there are some in this companie that haue as great neede of remedie and whom loue hath driuen to so narrow a streight that if Fortune do not succour them the sooner I knowe not what will become of their liues The Shepherdesse hearing Doria speake these wordes came out of her melancholie cell and taking her by the hand carried her vnto a fountaine in a little greene meadowe not farre off Whither the Nymphes and Shepherdes went after them and about the same sat them downe altogither when golden Phoebus had made an end of his diurnall course and siluer Diana began hers with such brightnes as if it had beene midday Where being in such sort as you haue heard the faire Shepherdesse began to tell this which followeth AT that time faire Nymphes of the chaste Goddesse when I was free from loue I heard once a certaine thing the experience whereof did afterwardes beguile me finding it cleane contrarie to that which I heard reported For it was tolde me that there was no kind of greefe but by telling it was some lighting ease to her that did suffer it I finde that there is not any thing that more augments my mishap then to call it to memorie and tell it her that is free from the like For if I thought otherwise I durst not beleeue me recount vnto you the historie of my annoies But because it is true that the telling of it to you shall be no cause of comfort to my balefull soule which are the two causes most abhorred of me giue eare and you shall heare the most strange and haples accidents that euer fell in loue Not farre from this valley towards that part where the sunne doth set there is a village in the middes of a forrest neere to two riuers which with their currants do water and giue life to the greene trees whose shadowed bowes are so delightfull and thicke togither that one house may hardly be discerned from another Euerie one of them hath their limits rounde about them where the gardens in sommer time are decked with fragrant flowers besides the aboūdance of pleasant orchards which are there naturally brought foorth though helped by the industrie of them which in great Spaine are called Freemen by reason of the antiquity of their houses linage In this place was the vnfortunate Belisa borne for this name I tooke from the funt where I would to God I had left and lost my life Heere liued also a certaine Shepherd one of the chiefest for birth and riches that was in all that countrey called Arsenius and married to the fairest Shepherdesse in all her time but vntimely death because her destinies woulde haue it so or else for auoyding some other inconuenience that her beautie might haue caused did within a fewe yeeres after she was married cut asunder her vital thred The greefe that Arsenius felt for the death of his beloued Florida was so extreme that he was almost in danger of loosing his life the which yet he preserued by the comfort of a sonne she left behinde her called Arsileus whose beautie and comely feature so farre excelled others that they matched the gifts so highly commended and descended to him from Florida his mother And yet did Arsenius for the losse of her leade the most sorrowfull and desolate life that might be But seeing his Sonne in sufficient yeeres to set him to some vertuous exercise knowing That idlenes in boyes was the curse of vices and an enimie to vertue he determined to sende him to the famous Academie of Salamanca with intent to haue him learne those sciences which make men mount vppe to higher degrees then men and so sent him thither indeede But fifteene yeeres being nowe past since the death of his mother it fell out that I going on a daie with others of our neighbours daughters to the market kept in a prettie towne not farre from ours vnfortunate Arsenius to his owne harme and alas to mine and to the preiudice of his haplesse sonne by chance espied me This sight kindled an extreme kinde of loue in him as it appeered afterwardes by the strange effects he shewed for he endeuoured to make me know it sometimes in the fielde as I was going to carrie the Shepherds their dinner sometimes againe as I was going to the riuer to rince my clothes and somtimes for water to the fountaine where he neuer missed of purpose to meete me But I that was till then but a nouice in matters of loue although by heare-saie I vnderstoode some of his disordinate effects sometimes dissembled the matter as though I vnderstoode not his meaning and sometimes made but a mocke of them and was angry to see him so importunate and earnest But my wordes were not able to defende my selfe from his continuall suites nor the great loue he bare me suffered him to leaue of to woe me more and more And in this sort I passed away more then fower yeeres in which space he left not of his fond attempt nor I to resolue with my selfe to giue him the lest fauour in the worlde About this time came his haplesse sonne Arsileus from his studie who amongst other sciences that he had studied was so brauely seene in Poetrie and Musicke that he excelled all others in his time His father tooke such exceeding ioy in him that he could neuer be out of his sight and not without great reason bicause Arsileus was such an one indeed that he deserued to be beloued not onely of his father whom nature constrained to loue as his sonne but of euery one else in the worlde And so in our towne he was so much esteemed and regarded of the cheefest and vulgar sort that they talked amongst themselues of no other thing then of the great wisedome graces gentilitie and many other good parts more which beautified the flourishing prime of his youth Arsenius was so secret to his sonne that by no meanes he would let him vnderstand any thing touching his loue whom although Arsileus had seene on a day very sad yet he durst not aske him the cause of his heauines but rather thought those passions to be the reliques of that sorrow which yet for the vntimely death of his faire mother remained in his
He came to vs where we were set and curteously saluting vs in very good sort and with a good grace requested pardon of vs That certes faire Nympes when I begin to thinke of the sweete behauiour and ripened wisedome of vnfortunate Arsileus I do not thinke that his sinister fates and fortune were the cause that death tooke him away so quickly from my sight but rather that the worlde was not woorthie to enioye any longer so singular a youth on whom nature had bestowed so many perfections of beautie and enriched with so many gifts of the minde as that hee left not his like behinde him After hee had saluted vs and leaue obtained which hee humblie requested of vs to passe away the heate of the daye in our companie hee cast his eies vpon me which had hee neuer done happie had we both beene and was as it appeered afterwardes by diuers signes whereby hee manifested his affection to me extremely ouercome in my loue Vnhappie I that needed not to looke on him to loue him being so much enwrapped in his by seeing him before as hee was nowe in mine after hee had seene me lifted vp mine eies to beholde him at the verie instant when he addressed his to looke on me which forcible encounter both of vs would willingly had not befell bicause that modestie and shame sharpely rebuked me and feare left not him without bitter punishment But he to dissemble his newe greefe began to discourse with me in matters cleane different from those which he woulde haue imparted to me to some of which I answered againe my thoughts and sences being then more careful to see if by the alteration of his countenance or mildenes in his words he shewed any signes of loue then fully to satisfie his questions For then so greatly I desired to heare him sighe to confirme me in my doubtfull hope that in lieu of such a happines I woulde not haue cared to haue passed any greefe whatsoeuer And in the end I coulde not wish for more apparant signes of loue in him then at that present I behelde for what with his toong he coulde not with his eies he manifestly declared vnto me the amorous and secret passions of his hart And being in these points the two Shepherdesses that were with me rose vp to milke their kine whom I praied to take the paines to milke mine likewise for that I felt my selfe not well at ease And needlesse it was for me to entreate them much and for Arsileus to haue any fitter occasion to declare vnto me his greefe wherein I knowe not if he was deceiued by imagining the occasion why I would be without companie but am assured that he was not a little glad to helpe himselfe by the opportunitie thereof The Shepherdesses were busie about milking their kine which suffered themselues to be deceiued with humane industry by tying their gentle cauelings to their feete That Arsileus now newly suprised in loue had yeelded himselfe so much to Cupids bonds that nothing but speedie death could giue him libertie I perceiued apparantly in that fower or fiue times he began to speake vnto me and euery time in vaine for the feare he had of my displeasure came euer betweene him and his speech and therefore I began to talke to him of another matter not farre from his intent bicause he might not digresse much from it inducing him thereby to tell me what it was that so often he went about to speake and could not vtter saying Doth this countrey like thee well Arsileus For the entertainment and conuersation of that where thou hast lately spent thy time is I knowe farre different from ours which therefore cannot so well content thee as that As of my selfe quoth he I haue not so much power so hath not my vnderstanding faire Shepherdesse so much libertie to answer this demand And changing this manner of talke to shewe him the way with occasion I said vnto him againe I haue heard say that in those parts are many faire Shepherdesses that paragonned to vs they so farre excell vs that we must seeme but meane in thy sight that are heere I might be thought too simple saide Arsileus if I woulde confesse this for though there are as faire there as you haue heard yet heere are they which with mine owne eies I daily see that so farre surmount them as the sun doth the chiefest stars in brightnes This is the greatest glose in the world said I againe and yet for all this I am not sorrie that our countrey-women are so farre in your good opinion and liking because I am one of them my selfe Which onely reason saide he if there were no other were sufficient enough to prooue what I haue said So that by word and worde he came to tell me that which I desired to heare though I would not then make him knowe so much but rather intreated him to stop vp the passage of his wordes But fearing least this might haue bene an occasion to qualifie his loue as often times it falleth out that disgraces and disfauours in the beginning are the meanes to make any leaue of their true commenced loue I began to tune againe my iarring answere saying thus vnto him And if thy loue be such Arsileus that it will not suffer thee to leaue of to loue me be secret therein since it is the manner of those that are wise and iudicious like thy selfe to be no lesse in things of meaner consequence Albeit by all this which I haue saide vnto thee I would not haue thee thinke to profit thy selfe any more then that I must for euer liue bounde vnto thee if thou wilt follow my counsell in this behalfe This did my toong speake but an other thing did my pitifull eies affirme with the which I still looked him in the face and casting out a sigh an assured messenger of my inwarde and sensible passion which Arsileus might haue perceiued well ynough if Loue at the least would haue giuen him leaue I held my peace In this sort we departed from one another and many times afterwards he talked with me of these matters who sent me besides many letters and fine Sonnets of his owne making And as he sung them night by night to the tune of his sweete Harpe with amorous teares I oftentimes harkened vnto him so that in the ende both of vs was assured of each others loue But now did Arsenius his father importune me in such sort with his messages and presents that I knew not what way to take to defend me from him And it was the strangest thing in the world to see how the loue which increased euery day in the sonne was also augmented in the father though they were both of different age and powers and yet the same I must needes confesse made me not reiect him nor refuse any thing that he sent me But liuing now in all contentment and seeing my selfe so truly beloued of Arsileus whom I loued
so deerely againe it seemed that fortune would make an end of all my ioy with the most haplesse euent that was euer seene before For thus it was that Arsileus and I appointing to meete together on a certaine night too darke and dismall for me bicause I neuer since knew perfectly what day meant we concluded that he should come into my fathers orchard and I to my chamber windowe which opened right vpon a Mulberie tree whereon he might easily get vp to be necre vnto me there to talke togither of our matters Accursed Belisa that shalt neuer conceiue to what purpose I brought him to such danger when as euery day sometimes in the fielde sometimes at the riuer side and sometimes at the wood when I carried my kine to pasture and sometimes when I driue my sheepe to the folde he might at pleasure haue talked with me as he did many daies before But my hard hap was the cause that fortune would be paied for the content which she had lent me till then with making me liue all my life time without it For now the appointed hower which was the ende of his daies and the beginning of my woes being come Arsileus came iust at the time and to the very place where both of vs talking together of those things which they may imagine that haue sometimes loued well his wretched father Arsenius that accustomed many nights to walke vp and downe about our house to see if he could see me which if I had so well remembred for it was so far out of my thoughtes as if I had neuer knowen any such matter I would neuer haue consented to put him in such danger in the ende happened to come thither that night and iust at that hower when his sonne was in the tree and so priuily that though he had quickly espied vs we could neither heare nor see him And knowing it was I that was speaking out at the window but not his sonne that was in the Mulberie tree not imagining who he might be it was the principall cause of our ill successe For thereupon he conceiued such great wroth and iealousie that without any noise at all he bied him home where bending a Crossebowe and putting a poisoned arrow in it came againe to the place where we were and aimed so right at his sonne that the arrow pearcing his tender hart he fell immediately downe dead from the tree saying How little time my deere Belisa doth fortune lend me to serue thee according to my great good will desire Which wordes he could scarce vtter when the accursed father who by his speech knew that he was the homicide of his owne sonne with a desperate outcrie saide Thrise wretched and accursed may I euer be if thou art my sonne Arsileus who seemest to be no other by thy voice Whereupon comming vnto him and by the light of the moone that shone vpon his face knowing him well and that he had giuen vp the ghost he saide Since cruell Belisa my vnfortunate sonne by thy means hath bene slaine it is not meete that the murdering father suruiue to lament his vntimely death At which wordes taking out his Woodknife he thrust it into his hart and fell downe presently dead O vnhappie chaunce O strange case neuer heard of nor seene before O greeuous scandale to their eares that shall he are the lamentable discourse of my balefull tragedie O miserable Belisa may thy guiltie hart thinke of these things and not take that way which both father and sonne haue taken for thy sake Alas it shall be great impietie not to mingle thy blood with theirs who desired so much to serue thee But when wretched soule I sawe this vnluckie accident without any more adoe I left my fathers house and went vp and downe wearying the heauens with importunate complaints and burning the aire with smokie sighes vntill I came to this place where accusing cruell fortune and hatefull death that had in so short time taught me to feele the woundes of their cruell dartes I haue liued sixe monethes without seeing or speaking to any person and not desirous of any companie or consolation whatsoeuer Faire Belisa hauing made an end of her pitifull tale began to weepe so bitterly that euery one there was forced with their teares to helpe to bewaile her dire misfortune And adding further she saide This is faire Nymphes the sorrowfull historie or rather dolefull tragedie of my haplesse loues and of their bloodie successe Behold then if this be such an ill that fortune or time may cure and remedie O Arsileus how often did I feare it without thinking of that which I iustly feared But she that will not beleeue her feare and preuent it let her not maruell when she sees that come to passe which she feared for well I knew thou couldst not be any long time without meeting me and that my ioy could endure no longer then when Arsenius thy father perceiued any thing of our loues I woulde to God it had so fallen out that the greatest hurt that he could haue done me had bene but to banish thee his sight and our towne For an ill which is cured with time may with lesse harme be suffered O Arsenius the death of thy sonne is no impediment to the greefe that I also conceiue for thine for the loue which thou didst continually beare me thy vertuous and pure zeale wherewith thou didst euer loue me thy bountie and cost bestowed on me the tempestuous and ill nightes that thou hast passed for my sake will let me doe no lesse then lament and bewaile thy disastrous end for by this time I had bene married vnto thee if thy sweete sonne Arsileus had not come to our towne If I should say that I did not loue thee well I should deceiue the world for in the end there is no woman if she knowes she is truly beloued but will loue little or much againe although otherwise she manifest the same But now my toong holde thy peace since thou hast told more then thou wert asked And pardon me faire Nymphes if I haue bene tedious in my sorrowfull narration bicause so great mishaps cannot be comprised in fewe wordes Whilest the Shepherdesse was telling that which you haue heard Syrenus Syluanus Seluagia and faire Felismena and the three Nymphes coulde not giue eare without some secrete teares although the Nymphes as women neuer touched with loue felt her paine and greefe but not the circumstances of it But faire Doria seeing the comfortlesse Shepherdesse did not leaue of her bitter complaint began to comfort her in this sort Let thy teares cease Belisa since thou seest what small remedie thou hast of them and waigh that two eies are not able to bewaile so great a greefe But what sorrow can there be which is not ended or endes not her that suffers it and yet I could shew thee the way whereby I could a little lighten thy paine Wherefore I pray thee goe with vs
artificiall tower Comming to the portall they staied a little to behold the strange workmanship and the imagerie that was so liuely grauen in it that it seemed rather a naturall then artificiall worke or wrought by humane industrie wherein were two Nymphes of massie siluer that stood on the tops of two pillers and helde vp betweene them a polished table of smooth Ieat with golden letters grauen in it that saide thus WEll let her life that enters heere be waighed And if she hath not chastitie estranged And she that loues or Loues lawes hath essaied If for anothers loue she hath not changed And if from former faith she hath not straied And kept her first true loue and hath not ranged May enter heere into Dianas temple Whose soueraigne grace to such appeeres most gentle When faire Felismena heard this she saide to the Shepherdesses Belisa and Seluagia I thinke we may safely enter into this sumptuous Palace without breach of the lawes that this table doth depaint vnto vs. Syrenus answering to that saide But faire Diana coulde not doe so bicause she hath not onely gone against them but against all that good and honest loue commaunds to be obserued Be not angrie with her Shepherd saide Felicia for before many daies hence thou shalt wonder that thou wert so much angrie and laugh at this harde opinion thou hadst of her And so handes in handes they went into the sage Felicias chamber which was richly hanged with cloth of golde and tissue of inestimable value And by and by after they were come in supper was made ready where fine white clothes being spred on the tables and furnished with daintie cates euery one was placed in order Felismena was set next to the sage Lady Felicia and the Nymphes tooke the Shepherdes and Shepherdesses betweene them whose talke at the boord was full of modest mirth and delight There were the rich tables of Cedar and stooles framed out of Iuorie with cushions of fine needle worke wrought with golde and siluer many cups goblets and glasses of diuers formes and mettals were common there and all of no small price some of them artificially made of strange glasse others of fine Cristall with the feete and handles of pure golde others all of golde and siluer most richly garnished with precious stones of inestimate value They were serued with such plentie of sundrie daintie dishes as is almost impossible in order to set downe After that supper was ended three Nymphes came into the hall one of them playing on a Harpe another on a Lute and the third on a base Vial de gamba but with such sweetenesse and melodie that they that were present were as it were enchaunted and rauished with it They placed themselues in one side of the hall and the Shepherdes and Shepherdesses being louingly requested by the three Nymphes and by sage Felicia placed themselues right ouer against them on the other side with their Rebeckes and a Bagpipe whereon Seluagia sweetely plaied And then the Nymphes began to sing this song and the Shepherdes to answere them in manner following The Nymphes THe authours of subiections Fortune and Loue and of most peeuish fashions Aboue the moone affections Doe place and hard reiections And in the same extremest paines and passions The Shepherdes Lessemay he vaunt and boast For ioy whom Loue did neuer yet molest Then he that loueth most And fauours euer lost Since they that suffer more are euer best The Nymphes If Loues extremes releene you And did not gainsay reason as we view them Perhaps we would beleeue you But seeing how they greeue you Happy are we that can so well eschew them The Shepherdes The hardest things the stoute And valiant persons euer take in hand And that of greatest doubt Braue courage brings about For t' is no honour small things to withstande The Nymphes The Louer well doth see To fight it out it is not Loues intent With magnanimitie In torments he must be Of those that suffring them are most content The Shepherdes If any ioy we sought By any ill of Loue which we obtaine It cannot be the thought Vnto the passion brought But he 's more happy that endures more paine The Nymphes The best estate and fare Where he doth see himselfe that loueth best Brings nothing els but care And yet doth neuer spare With flames to burne the dame and seruants brest And he that 's fauour'd most Is changed in the twinkling of an eie For with disfauours tost And in obliuion lost It kils his hart and makes his ioyes to die The Shepherdes To leese a good estate By falling from it is a greefe and paine Blamelesse is Loue but fate It is and Fortunes hate That no exception makes from his disdaine Vniust and far vnfit Is death if Loue doth say that we shall liue If death it promis'd yet No fault he doth commit For in the ende his promise he doth giue The Nymphes Fierce Loue they doe excuse That finde themselues entangled with his fetter And blame those that refuse Him but of these to chuse The blamed mans estate is far the better The Shepherdes Faire Nymphes it is denied The free and bond with one toong to debate Liue men and those that died The loued and defied All speake according to their owne estate Sage Felicia and the Shepherdesse Felismena gaue attentiue eare vnto the musicke that the Nymphes and Shepherdes made and to the sundry opinions which on both sides they shewed by singing And Felicia smyling on Felismena saide to her in her eare Who beleeues not faire Shepherdesse but that most of these words haue touched thy soule to the quicke who with a milde and sober grace answered her againe Such were the words good Lady that whose soule they did not touch the same should not be touched with such loue as mine is Felicia then lifting vp her voice a little higher saide vnto her In these loue matters I note a certaine conclusion which I finde for the most part true That the generous minde and delicate witte by many degrees excelleth him in affection that hath not these gifts Because as loue is a vertue and vertue doth euer choose her being in the best place it is cleere that persons of valour and dignitie are more enamoured and as they are properly termed better louers then those of baser condition and estate The Shepherds and Shepherdesses hearing what Felicia saide seemed to be somewhat angry in their mindes which made Syluanus to thinke that her words ought not to escape without an answer who therefore saide thus vnto her Wherein good Ladie doth a noble minde and fine witte consist Felicia who by and by perceiued to what purpose the Shepherd demanded this question because she woulde not giue him anie occasion of discontent saide In no other thing but in the proper and sole vertue of him that loues as to haue a liuely and quicke witte a mature and good iudgement a thought tending to high and stately things
now I sing that once for loue did die Forget Belisa now thy woefull wrong And to my voice sweete Nymphes your eares apply That lost his eies to beauties blaze then turning And Shepherdes cease a while your amorous mourning I will not speake for God forbid the same Of that most heauie processe of mine ils Nor when I so did sing that I did tame Wilde beastes and birdes and mooued trees and hils Nor when I did suspend th' infernall flame Nor when I sawe Pluto nor that that kils My soule with greefe when I lookt backe to see If that Euridice did follow me But I will sing with pure and sweetest voice Of those perfections and that grace display That wisedome wit and beautie of such choice Of those who doe illustrate Spaine this day Then see her Nymphes whose beautie doth reioice Vs all her great Diana and her gay And goodly traine on whom both Gods and men Cannot ynough imploy their toongs and pen. Lift vp your eies this Lady to beholde That heere is sitting in this highest chaire With scepter neere to her and crowne of golde And angrie fortune by her on the staire This is the star that Spaines light did enfolde Whose absence now her glory doth impaire Her name is Lady Mary that hath beene Of Hungarie Boeme and of Austrie Queene The next that sits to her is Lady Iane Princesse of Portugall and of Castille The Infant and from whom fortune had tane The crowne and scepter by her turning wheele And vnto whom death was so inhumane That in her selfe great wonder she doth feele To see how soone she did stretch forth her hands On her that was the light of Lusitans Behold faire Nymphes that Lady Mary great And soueraigne Infant of her Portugall Whose grace and beautie hath this day a seate Where humane thought could neuer reach at all Behold though cruell for tune there doth threat Her wisedome yet doth count of her but small For time and death and destinie cannot Conquere her goodnes vertues and her lot Those two that are by her on either side Whose beauties Titans brightnesse doe offend Their sleeues of gold their gownes of damaske tide With pearle and where faire Emerauldes depend Their curled golden lockes wauing so wide Vpon their shoulders loose that doe descend Daughters they are of th' Infant Lusitanc Duarta the valiant and great Cristiane Those two great Dutchesses of worthy fame For beauties prize in either of our Spaines Which there you see to life se◠out in frame With grace and features that all others staines Of Sessa and Najare each hath her name Whose companie Diana not disdaines For their exceeding beautie and desartes Discretion wisedome and all other partes Behold a golden Phoenix all alone Arare perfection neuer seene before Wisedome as like was not in any one Beautie and grace where neuer could be more She that puls fortune from her vaunting throne And hath her subiect to her will and lore Great Lady Leonore Manuell hath to name The Lusitane light that doth the world inflame The Lady Luise Carillo that in Spaine Hath made Mendoças blood of such renowne Whose beautie and braue grace hath in a chaine Cupid himselfe for loue of her cast downe She 's waiting still vpon our Goddesse traine For chastitie worthie to weare a crowne Of faire and honest an example heere And of them all a mirrour bright and cleere Rehold a sweete perfection and a rare Of her whom fame her selfe doth greatly feare Behold a passing beautie sans compare Founded in grace and wisedome euery wheare That both with reason binde to loue and care For in her doth the lest part beautie beare Lady Eufrase of Guzman is her name Worthy to be eternized with fame That matchlesse beautie sweete and peregrine Not seene in any but in her alone Which euery wit and soule doth so refine With holy loue as like was neuer none Apparelled with Crimson that doth shine With flowres of gold and pearle that there are sowne The Lady Mary Aragon her name The world doth know and he auen doth knowe the same Her doe you knowe to whome Diane her face Doth turne and points her to vs with her hand Who matcheth her in wisedome and in grace And equall is with others in this land In wit and hath in beautie highest place Apt to conduct and leade a martiall band T' is Lady Isabell Mauriq of Padille Who Mars doth conquer and with wonder fill The Ladies Mary Manuell and Ione Osorius are those two which you doe see Whose grace and beautie as the like not knowne Euen Loue himselfe with loue doth wound and slee And this our Goddesse doth not ioy alone To see two such with her but also wee Since then no toong their worthinesse may praise Reason and fame to heauen the same shall raise And those two sisters of such worthy name Either of them a second neuer had Their grace and beautie fils the world with fame This day their golden beames doth each one glad Me thinkes I see them in their perfect frame To which more beautie nature could not adde The Lady Bettrice Sarmient is one With Castro her faire sister so well knowne That cleerest sunne which heere you see doth shine And heere and there her golden beames doth cast She that doth laugh at louers that doe pine In loue and at the teares that they doe wast And at Loues powre whose countenance diuine Saies more then I though praising her so fast T' is Lady Ione Carate in whom we see Surpasing grace and beauties praise to bee The Lady Anne Osorius that braue dame And Castro next to her possesse their place For peerelesse beautie honoured with fame For goodly giftes for modestie and grace But her hard hap alas was much to blame So cruelly her glory to deface Bicause her fortune equall might not bee Vnto her wisedome beautie and degree That matchlesse beautie that 's adorned so With honestie and grace so soueraine Which was with reason chosen to bestowe Her honour in the Temple of Diana Not conquer'd but still conqu'ring high and lowe Her name O Nymphes is Lady Iuliana Neece to that greatest Duke and Conestable Speake fame of her for I am far vnable Behold the beautie on the other part Of many faire and braue Valencian Dames Whom with my pen but more yet with my hart I will procure to celebrate their names Heere Fount of Helicone vouchsafe thy art And heere Minerua helpe me in these blames To tell what those braue Ladies be whose sight Onely to them all eies and harts inuite See heere fowre blasing stars that brightly shine Of whom Fame brutes their name in euery ground That from three famous kingdomes drawe their line And from Cardonas aneient house come downe On th' one side Dukes most excellent decline And from the other scepter throne and crowne Daughters vnto Sogorbe whose golden fame From Atlas vnto Maurus soundes their name The light of all the world the flowre
sees her must commend her Who them can praise her well and not offend her The Lady Isabell Borâ—… here doth stand Perfect and absolute in euery thing Behold her face her fine and dainty hand Ouer whose head the nightingales doe sing Our age she honours and th' Hiberian land Of grace and vertuâ— she 's the onely spring And those to whom nature did beautie giue She staines as fairest that did euer liue She that her haire hath hanging downe and speed Abroad and tide with golden third behinde And that faire face that hath so often led So many harts to bondage of the minde Her Iuorie necke her ties in beautie bred Faire modest gray not looking out of kinde Her famous name is Lady Iuliana That honours â—…ere the Temple of Diana She whom you there doe see whom nature made So curiously at neuer like before Since that her beautie neuer seem'd to fade Nor that a faire one can desire more Whose great deserts and wit doth still perswade Fame to the world her praises to restore Is called Lady Moncia Fenollit To whom Loue yeelds himselfe and doth submit The song of renowned Orpheus was so pleasant in Felismenas eares and in all theirs that heard it that it held them in such a suspence as if they had passed by no other thing but that which they had before their eies Who now hauing particularly viewed the rich chamber of estate with euery thing in it that was woorth the seeing as all was the Nymphes went foorth by a certaine dore into the great hall and by an other out of the hall into a faire garden the beautie whereof stroke no lesse admiration into their mindes then the strange things which they had seene before for amongst the fruitfull trees and sweete flowers were many sepulchers and tombes erected of diuers Nymphes and Ladies which with great puritie had kept their chastitie due to the Goddesse thereof inniolate and vnstained Some of the tombes were adorned with coronets of knottie Iuie others with chapplets of sweete Myrtles and some with garlands of greene Laurell There were also manie Allabluster fountaines in the garden some of Iaspar marble some of other mettall seated under vines which with artificiall arches and wreathes aloft did spred foorth their branches depressed with clusters of coloured grapes The Mytrhe trees grew in manner of fower walles with embattlements and pinnacles on the tops of them and on the sides aboue them were certaine Terrasses and walkes reared vp whereon as ouer all the garden besides did growe many sweete flowers of sundry colours as white Iesmins Woodbyne and many more delightfull to the insatiable eie In the hiddes of the garden stoode a Ieat-stone vpon fower brazen pillers and in the thids of it a tombe framed out of Iaspar which fower Nymphes that were wrought out of white Allablaster did hold vp with their handes and about it stoode manie Tapers of Virgine waxe burning in massie candlestickes of bright siluer that were made in artificiall manner About this tombe stoode certaine Lordes and Knights some fashioned out of stone and mettall other som out of Iaspar marble and other matter Which figures shewed such great sorrow by their countenances that they filled Felismenas hart and all theirs that were looking on the tombe with no lesse greefe then admiration But viewing it narrowly they sawe in a table of shining golde which at the foote of the sepulchre a dead and pale mattone held betweene her hands this Epitaphe subscribed HEere Lady Katherine entombed lies Of Aragon and Sarmient whose fame Doth mount with praise vnto the loftie skies And sounds from North to South her woorthy name Death kil'd her to reuenge the sacrifice Of those she killed when she was a dame Her body 's heere her soule in heauen with pleasure The world vnwoorthy to possesse such treasure After they had read this Epitaphe they sawe an Eagle of blacke marble with displaied wings on the top of the tombe with a golden table betweene her tallons with those verses in it EVen as O death the Planets should remaine Without Apollo and Diana bright The ground without mankinde and beasts againe The Marriner without the North-starre light The fielde without faire flowers grasse or graine The mornings showe without the dewe of night Vertue and beautie so remaine and die Without the dame that in this tombe doth lie When they had read both these Epitaphs and Belisa had vnderstoode by them what the Nymph was that was buried therein and how much Spaine lost by leesing her calling therewithall to minde the vntimely death of her deere Arsileus she could not but with teares breath out these sorrowfull wordes O death how far am I from thinking that thou maiest comfort me with other womens harmes The small time that the world enioyed the great beautie and wisedome wherewith they tell me this Nymph was endowed doth not a little greeue me bicause as she was not her-selfe in loue so did not any deserue she should be so For had she beene I would then account her for so happie a woman by dying as my selfe vnfortunate by seeing how small reckoning thou makest of me cruell death since taking from me all my good and the onely ioy of my life thou dost not leaue me heere but onely to feele the neuer-ceasing paine of this heauie want O my Arsileus O rare wisedome in such yoong yeeres O the most faithfull louer that euer was and the finest wit that the heauens could euer infuse into so braue an ornament of nature What eies may without inundations of reares behold thy sorrowfull absence And what hard hart suffer thy vntimely and difastrous end O Arsenius Arsenius how smal a time wert thou vnable to endure the violent death of thy vnfortunate sonne hauing more occasion to suffer it then my selfe Why didst thou make me cruell Arsenius participate of two deathes Of both which to preuent the least that did greeue me I would haue giuen a thousand liues Farewell happie Nymphe the light and honour of the royall house of Aragon God giue thy soule eternall glory and deliuer mine from so many woes and afflictions wherinto it is so deepely sunke After that Belisa had spoken these wordes and after they had seene many tombes more very richly erected they went out by a backe dore in the garden into a greene meadowe where they found the sage Ladie Felicia recreating her-selfe alone and walking vp and downe who seeing them comming towards her receiued them all with a ioyfull countenance And whilest it was time to go to supper they went to a pleasant walke in a groue of Sicamours harde by where the Nymphes of the sumptuous temple were woont many times to go and disport themselues where sitting downe in a little plat of greene grasse that was encompassed round about with leauie Sicamours they began to discourse one with another of that which did best please their fancies The Lady Felicia called the Shepheard Syrenus and Felismena to
her The Nymph Doria sat her downe with Syluanus in one place of the greene meadowe and the Shepherdesses Seluagia and Belisa went by themselues with the most beautifull Nymphes Cynthia and Polydora into another so that though they were not farre asunder yet they might talke togither well enough and not trouble one another But Syrenus desiring that their talke and conuersation might be conformable to the time place and person with whom he talked began to saie in this manner I thinke it not sage Lady much beyond the purpose to demand a certaine question to the perfect knowledge whereof as I could neuer yet attaine so do I not meanely desire by your Ladiships wisedome to be resolued therein and this it is They do all affirme that would seeme to know something That true Loue doth spring of reason which if it be so what is the reason that there is not a more timerous and vnruly thing in the worlde then loue and which is left of all gouerned by it As this Question answered Felicia is more then a simple Shepherdes conceite so is it necessarie that she that must answer it ought to haue more then a sillie womans wit But to satisfie thy minde with that little skill I haue I am of a contrarie opinion affirming that Loue though it hath Reason for his mother is not therefore limited or gouerned by it But it is rather to be supposed that after reason of knowledge and vnderstanding hath engendred it it will suffer it selfe to be gouerned but fewe times by it And it is so vnruly that it resultes oftentimes to the hurt and preiudice of the louer since true louers for the most part fall to hate and neglect themselues which is not onely contrarie to reason but also to the lawe of nature And this is the cause why they paint him blinde and void of all reason And as his mother Venus hath most faire eies so doth he also desire the fairest They paint him naked because good loue can neither be dissembled with reason nor hidden with prudence They paint him with wings because he swiftly enters into the louers soule and the more perfect he is with more swiftnes and alienation of himselfe he goeth to seeke the person of the beloued for which cause Euripides saide That the louer did liue in the body of the beloued They paint him also shooting his arrowes out of his bowe because he aymes right at the hart as at his proper white And also because the wound of loue is like that which an arrow or dart maketh narrow at the entrance and deepe in his inward soule that loueth This is an inscrutable and almost incurable wounde and very slowe in healing So that thou must not maruell Syrenus that perfect loue though it be the sonne of reason is not gouerned by it bicause there is nothing after it is borne that doth lesse conforme it selfe to the originall of his birth then this doth Some saie there is no other difference betweene vertuous and vicious loue but that the one is gouerned by reason and the other not but they are deceiued because excesse and force is no lesse proper to dishonest then to honest loue which is rather a qualitie incident to euerie kinde of loue sauing the one doth make vertue the greater by it and the other doth the more encrease vice Who can denie but that in true and honest loue excessiue and strange effects are oftentimes founde Aske it of many who for the onely loue of God made no account of themselues and cared not to leese their liues for it although knowing the reward they looked for did not worke Io much in their minds And how many againe enflamed with the loue of vertue haue gone about to cast away themselues and to end their liues to get thereby a glorious and suruiuing name A thing truely which ordinarie reason doth not permit which doth rather guide euery effect in such sort that the life may honestly preserue it selfe But what diuersitie of examples could I bring thee Syrenus of many who onely for the loue of their friendes haue lost their liues and euery thing that with life is lost But let vs leaue this loue and come againe to that which nature hath bred betweene man and woman wherein thou must know that if the loue which the louer beares to the mistresse of his affections although burning in vnbridled desire doth arise of reason and of true knowledge and iudgement as by her onely vertues he doth iudge her woorthy to be beloued That this kinde of loue in my opinion and yet I am not deceiued is neither vnlawfull nor dishonest bicause all loue being of this qualitie doth tende to no other end but to loue the person beloued for her owne sake without hoping for any other guerdon or effect of his true and sincere loue So that this is as much as me thinkes may be saide in answer of thy question which thou hast put me Syrenus then saide vnto her I am resolued sage Lady of that which I desired to vnderstande and also belceue that by your gracious wisedome which is great and bountie which is no lesse I shall be thorowly instructed of whatsoeuer I woulde desire to know although some finer capacitie then mine were more requisite to conceiue these deepe reasons so perfectly alledged by your learned assertions Syluenus that was talking with Polydora saide It is strange faire Nymph to see what a sorrowfull hart that is subiect to the traunces of impatient loue doth suffer because the lest ill that it causeth in vs is the depriuation of our iudgement the losse of our memorie and the surcharging of our imaginations with his onelse obiects making euery one to alienate himselfe Iron himselfe and to impropriate himselfe in the person of his beloued What shall that wofull man then do who sees himselfe so great an enimie to pleasure such a friende to solitarines so full of passions enuironed with feares troubled in his spirits martyred in his wits sustained by hope wearied with thoughts afflicted with griefes haunted with iealousies and continually worne with sobs sighes sorrowes and woes which he neuer wanteth And that which makes me more to maruel is that the mind doth not procure this loue being so vntolerable and extreme in crueltie nor hath any desire at all to part from it but doth rather account it her enimie that giues it any counsell to that effect All this is true saide Polydora but I know well that Louers for the most part haue more words then passions This is a signe saide Syluanus that thou canst not conceiue them faire Nymph because thou canst not beleeue them nor that thou hast beene euer touched with this pleasing ill And I wish thou maist not the which none can beleeue nor knowe the multitude of woes proceeding from it but onlie she that doth participate of his bitter effects Why dost thou thinke faire Nymph when the louer that findes himselfe continually
confused his reason obscured his memorie gone his fancies and sences wearied by excessiue loue that his toong can then remaine so free that it may faine passions and shew another thing by words then that he feeles by deedes Ah deceiue not thy selfe with these wordes which I know are cleane contrary to thy thought Beholde heere am I in whom there is nothing that can be gouerned by reason neither can he haue it that is so much without his libertie as I am because all corporall subiections do suffer the will at the least to be free but the bondage of loue is such that the first thing it takes in hand is to constraine one to make a profession of it And wilt thou Shepherdesse then beleeue that he doth form complaints faine sighes that sees himselfe handled in this sort It seemes well thou art free frō loue as I did but euen now tell thee I know Syluanus saide Polydor a againe that louers are full of troubles and afflicted in mind all the while they do not obtaine their desires Thou speakest in a thing saide Syluanus wherein it seemes thou hast no experience bicause their loue whose paines cease after the accomplishment of their desires proceedeth not from reason but from a base and dishonest appetite Seluagia Belisa and faire Cynthia were talking togither what the reason was that in absence loue did for the most part waxe colde Belisa coulde not beleeue that for any thing in the worlde she might entertaine such disloyaltie in her hart saying That since she did beare her Arsileus being now dead and too well assured neuer to see him againe the selfe same loue that she did when he was aliue howe much more then was it impossible for any other to forget that loue which one doth hope sometimes to see againe I cannot answer thee Belisa saide the Nymph Cynthia so sufficiently as perhaps this matter doth require because as it is a thing impertinent to our cōdition so the resolution thereof is it not expected of a Nymphes witte and profession But yet this is my opinion that though one departs from the presence of her louer yet the remembrance of him afterwards remaines in her eies by the present occasions wherof she still sees the Idea of the thing that she desireth The charge and office of this remembrance is to represent that to the vnderstanding which it conteineth in it and of thinking of the person whom she loueth commeth will the thirde power of the soule to engender desire by meanes whereof the person absented suffereth paine by not seeing that which she loueth well So that all these effects are deriued from the memorie as from a fountaine frō whence the beginning of desire springeth But you must now knowe faire Shepherdesses that as the memorie is a thing that the more it encreaseth the more it looseth her strength and vertue for getting that which the eies did deliuer and put into it so likewise do the other powers whose workes had their beginning in it in the verie same sort as riuers should want their streames if the fountaines from whence they spring did cease to flowe And as this is vnderstoode of him that departs so is it likewise of her that remaines still And whereas thou dost thinke faire Shepherdesse that time will not cure thy greefe by committing the remedie thereof into my Lady Felicias handes thou art much deceiued because there is not any whom she doth not helpe and louers more then any other kinde of people The sage Lady Felicia though she was somewhat from them heard what Cynthia saide and answered It might be thought no small point of crueltie in me to put the remedie of her greefes who needes it so much in the hands of so slowe and tedious a phisition as time is For though it be sometimes a helpe yet it fals out in the end that the greatest malladies if they haue no other remedies then their own do last so long a time that before they haue an ende they ende their liues that haue them And therefore because I meane to be thinke me of that which toucheth Felismenaes ease and the remedy of her greefes and those of all her companie that now the beames of golden Apollo seeme to make an ende of their daies iourney I thinke it best to seale vp our discourses and to go in bieause supper I thinke by this time is staying for vs. And so they went into the great Ladies Pallace where they founde the tables ready furnished and set vnder an arbour of greene vines in a pleasant and fresh garden within the house And supper being ended the sage Lady praied Felismena to tell them some discourse were it a historie or some notable accident that had befallen in the Prouince of Vandalia Which Felismena did not denie for with a sober and gentle grace she began to tell this history following IN the time of the Valiant Prince Don Fernando who was afterwards King of Aragon liued a knight in Spaine called Rodriga of Naruaez whose singular virtues and approoued manhood were so great that as well in peace as in war he got the Sirname of the best knight of all those that liued in his time and where he did especially winne it when the same noble Prince ouercame the power of the Moores at the citie of Antiquera shewing by his great enterprises and martiall feates in this warre an absolute minde an inuincible hart and a noble kinde of liberalitie by meanes whereof a good Captaine is not onely beloued and highly esteemed of his owne souldiers but also of strangers and his chiefest enimies In regarde of which worthie seruice hee was guerdoned after the subduing of that countrey although but meanely in lieu of his high desertes and excellent deedes with the regiment of Antiquera and Allora where hee spent most of his time with fiftie choise gentlemen at the Kings paie for defence and garrison of both those frontier townes All which by the good gouernment of their Captaine enterprised many valiant deedes in defence of the Christian faith atchieuing them with great honour and registring the in perpetuall same with notable aduentures done in mainrenance of the same Whose mindes therefore being so great enemies to idlenes and the exercise of armes so agreeable to the generous hart of their valiant Gouernour it fell out that vpon a certaine sommers night Cynthia inuiting them to take part of the bright coole aire Rodrigo with nine of his gentlemen for therest remained in garrison of the towne armed at all points went out of Allora to surprise the Moores which lay on their frontiers carelesse perheps in their charge and negligent And emboldened by the priuiledge of the night they passed by certaine waies neere vnto their townes The valiant Captaine therefore going on with his gentlemen as secret as he might and verie carefull not to be discried came to a way that parted into two where consulting to diuide themselues into two companies
they made an insurrection wherein with ten gentlemen more of their kinred they conspired to kill the King land to diuide the kingdome amongst themselues so to be reuenged of the vnworthie disgrace receiued by him This conspitacie whether it was true or false was discouered before it could be put in practise and they apprehended and condemned to die before the citizens had intelligence thereof who without all doubt for the great loue they bare them would haue risen not consenting that iustice should haue beene done vpon them For carying them to exequution it was the strangest spectacle in the world to see the lamentations that some made the priuie murmuring of one to another and the bootlesse excuses that for compassion of these gentlemen were generally made in all the citie They ran all to the King and offered to buie his mercie with great summes of gold and siluer but such was his seueritie that it expelled all motions of pitie and clemencie Which when the people beheld they began to weepe and lament againe The Lords Knights and gentlemen did weepe and mourne with whom they were wont to keepe companie The tender Ladies and Damsels of the Court wept whom they loued and serued And all the whole citie wept for the great honour and auctority that such noble citizens gaue them The lamentations and outcries were so many and so loud as if the earth had sunke or the world beene drowned anew But the King who to all these teares lamentations and pitifull outcries did stop his eares commaunded that his definitiue sentence should be presently executed So that of all that house and linage there remained not one man aliue that was not beheaded that day except my father and mine vncle who were not found complices in that conspiracie These ils resulted to them besides this miserable chaunce that their houses were ruinated they proclaimed traitours to the King their goodes lands and possessions confiscated And that no Abenceraje should liue any longer in Granada except my father and mine vncle and they but with this condition that if they had any issue they should send the men children as soon as they were borne to be brought vp out of the citie neuer to returne into it againe and if they were women and marriageable to be married out of the Realme When the Gouernor heard the strange discourse of Abyndaraez and the termes wherewith he complayned of his misfortune he could not stop his teares but did shew by them the sensible greefe which of such a disastrous accident could not be but felt And therefore turning himselfe to the Moore saide vnto him Thou hast good cause Abyndaraes to be sorrie for the fall of thy noble house and kinred whose heads I thinke coulde neuer hatch so great treason And were it for no other proofe but that so worthie a gentleman as thy selfe came out of it this onely were sufficient to make me beleeue that they neuer pretended such wickednes This gentle opinion which thou hast of me said the Moore and of the goodnes of my auncestors I know not worthie Gouernour how to requite but onely with vnfained and humble thankes But now when I was borne into the world with the inheritance of the selfe same mishap of my kinred they sent me because they would not infringe the Kings edict to be nursed and brought vp in a certaine fort belonging sometimes to the Christians called Cartama committing the charge and care of me to the Gouernor thereof with whom my father had ancient familiaritie acquaintance A man of great account in the kingdome vpright in the maner of his life and verie rich but chiefly in a daughter that he hath which is the greatest â—…ie which I account of in this life the which I wish I may neuer enioy if in any â—…g but onely her I euer tooke content pleasure With her was I brought vp 〈◊〉 my childhood for she was borne but three yeeres after me and as we were â—…erally thought of all to be brother and sister for like such was our education so did we also thinke our selues to be The loue that I did beare Xarifa for thus is the Lady called that is mistresse of my libertie were but little if I could tell it Let it â—…fice that time hath so confirmed the same that I would giue a thousands liues if â—…ad them but to enioy one momentarie sight of her faire face Euerie day encreased our age but euerie hower augmented our loue and so much that now me thought I was made of another kind of mettall then of consanguinitie I remember that Xarifa being on a day in the orchard of the Iesemynes dressing her faire head by chaunce I espied her amazed at her singular beautie and how me thought it greeued me that she was my sister And by the extreme passion of my loue driueÌ„ out of my musing I went to her who as soone as she saw me with open armes came to receiue me And sitting vpon the fountaine by her she said vnto me Why hast thou good brother left me so long alone It is sweete Ladie said I againe a good while since I hauing sought thee in euerie place found not any that could tell me what was become of thee my hart at last coniectured where thou wert Buttel me now I pray thee what certaintie hast thou that we are brother and sister No other saide she then of the great loue I beare thee and to see how euerie one doth call vs so and that my father doth bring vs vp like his sonne and daughter And if we were not brother and sister saide I wouldest thou then loue me so much as thou dost Oh seest thou not saide she that we shuld not be suffered to go so coÌ„tinually together al alone if we were not But if we were depriued of this ioy that which I feele in my selfe is a great deale more At which words her faire face being tainted with a vermillion blush she said vnto me What couldest thou leese by it if we were brother and sister My selfe and thee to said I. I vnderstand thee not said she but me thinkes being brother and sister it binds vs to loue one another naturally Thy onely beauâ—… said I doth oblige me to this brotherhood which rather qualifieth my loue 〈◊〉 sometimes distempers my thoughts At which words blushing for too much bolâ—…es casting downe mine eies I saw her diuine figure in the cristalline fountaine so liuely represented as if it had beene she her selfe and in such sort that wheresoeuer she turned her head I still beheld her image and goodly counterfaite truely translated into verie hart Then said I softly to my selfe O if I were now drowned in this fountaine where with pride I behold my sweete Lady how more fortunate should I die then Narcissus And if she loued me as I do her how happie should I be And if fortune would let vs liue euer together what a happie life should I
round about with Myrtles and Laurels he found Dianas sheepe that went by themselues all alone feeding amongst the trees vnder the keeping of two fierce masties And as the Shepherd staied to looke vpon them thinking of the time wherein he had greater care of them then of his owne the masties with great furie came running vpon him But when they came somewhat nigh and knew him by wagging their tailes and holding downe their necks that were armed with collers of sharpe nailes the one fell downe at his feete and the other by skipping vpon him fawned on him with the greatest ioy in the world And the sheepe did no lesse for the Bell-wether with his rurall bleating came to the Shepherd whom all the rest followed and knowing Syrenus came round about him which sight he could not behold without teares calling to mind that sometimes in the company of faire Diana he had fed that gentle flocke And seeing that in the silly beasts that loue and knowledge did abound which wanted in their mistresse it was so forcible a motion in his minde that if the vertue of the water which sage Felicia had giuen him had not made him forget his olde loue it might well haue beene that there was nothing else in the worlde that coulde haue let him from renewing it againe But seeing himselfe thus in the mids of Dianas sheepe and with the thoughts that the memorie of such a thing did put before his eies to the tune of his merie Recbecke he began to sing this song PAssed contents O what meane ye Forsake me now and doe not wearie me Wilt thou heare me O memorie My pleasant daies and nights againe I haue appaid with seuenfold paine Thou hast no more to aske me why For when I went they all did die As thou dost see O leaue me then and doe not wearie me Greene field and shadowed valley wheare Sometime my chiefest pleasure was Behold what I did after passe Then let me rest and if I beare Not with good cause continuall feare Now doe you see O leaue me then and doe not trouble me I sawe a hart changed of late And wearied to assure mine Then I was forced to recure mine By good occasion time and fate My thoughts that now such passions hate O what meane ye Forsake me now and doe not wearie me You lambes and sheepe that in these layes Did sometimes follow me so glad The merry howres and the sad Are passed now with all those daies Make not such mirth and wonted plaies As once did ye For now no more you haue deceiued me If that to trouble me you come Or come to comfort me indeede I haue no ill for comforts neede But if to kill me Then in summe Full well may ye Kill me and you shall make an end of me After Syrenus had made an ende of his song faire Diana knewe him by his voice and so did the two enamoured Shepherdes Syluanus and Seluagia They called to him telling him that if he was minded to passe away the heate of the day in the field there was the fresh fountaine of the Sicamours and faire Diana both which should be no small allurements to inuite him thither Syrenus answered him that be must needs stay all day in the field vntill it was time to go home againe with his sheepe to the towne and comming where the Shepherd and Shepherdesses were they sat round about the cleere fountaine as they were commonly woont to do But Diana whose life was so sorrowfull as one may imagine that euer sawe a Shepherdesse the fairest and wisest that was then knowne married so greatly to her greefe went day by day seeking out new occasions to entortaine the time and to passe her life away and studying often to preuent her continuall and sorrowfull thoughts But the Shepherdes sitting and talking of other matters touching the feeding of sheepe and their profite Diana brake off the substance of their talke saying to Syluanus It is a proper thing Shepherd that sitting before thy faire Seluagia thou talkest of other impertinent things and not of praising her beautie nor of the great loue that she beares thee Let the field and lambes alone the good or ill successe of time and fortune and enioy the good hap that Shepherd thou hast nowe by being beloued of so faire a Shepherdesse for where there is so great reason to haue continually such contentment of minde thou need'st not care for that which Fortune doth but sometimes giue How much I am beholding to thee Diana answered Syluanus none can expresse but he that knowes what great reason I haue to acknowledge this debt bicause thou didst not onely then teach me to loue well but now also shewest me the way to vse the contentment that my loue affoordes me The reason thou hast to warne me not to talke of any other matter my Mistresse being in presence but onely of the content that by her sight I receiue is great infinite the which I promise thee faire Diana to do while my happy soule shall be conteined in this ioyfull body But I maruell at one thing to see how thy Syrenus doth cast his eies another way when thou speakest vnto him it seemes thy wordes please him not or that he is not satisfied with thy answers Blame him not said Diana for carelesse men enimies to their own good will do more then this Enimy to mine own good said Syrenus If I was euer such an one let death punish me for my error This is a prety shift to excuse thy fault To excuse my fault said Diana If I haue not yet the first offence to do thee I pray God I may neuer haue any other cōtent then that which I now enioy It is wel that thou dost finde fault with me for being married hauing parets But it is wel said Syrenus that thou didst marry hauing another Loue And what power had that Loue saide Diana where obedience was due to parents And what power had those parents saide Syrenus that obedience those times those fauourable or sinistrous successes of Fortune to ouerrule so true a Loue as before my departure thou didst shew me Ah Diana I neuer thought there was any thing in the worlde that could dissolue so great a faith as that and how much more Dianas considering that well thou mightest haue married and not forgotten him who loued thee so entyrely But thinking of the matter vnappassionately it was now better for me since thou wert resolued to marrie and being married to forget me quite For what reason saide Diana For what saide Syrenus Bicause there is no woorse thing in the worlde then for a Shepherd to loue a Shepherdesse that is married nor that makes him that beares her true loue and affection sooner to loose his wits and sences the reason whereof as wee all know is that the principall passion which doth torment a louer after the desire of his Mistres is cruell iealousie For what dost thou
answered him thus If it be true Danteus that there is any loue in the world I haue borne it thee and as great as thou thy selfe knowest Neuer any of these Shepherds that bring their flockes to seede in the fieldes of Mondego and to drinke in these cleere waters obtained so much as one onely word of me whereby thou mightest haue occasion to complaine of Duarda nor of the loue that she hath euer showen thee Thy teares and burning sighes haue neuer touched any neerer at the hart then me The day mine eies beheld thee not could not see anything that pleased them The bullocks that thou didst keepe were of more account to me and I had a greater care of them then of mine owne And for the most part fearing least the keepers of this delightfull Champaine might hinder their feed I went to the top of this little hill to see if I could espie them whereas I brought mine in place when they could not feed the grasse of these faire riuer bankes without feare of being impounded And I was not afraid to put my selfe in this subiection and danger to put thee in assurance and safetie I know well that of this my subiect and apparant kind of loue thy affiance did arise and of thy affiance that which thou dost Thou did'st marie Andresa whose soule is now in glorie a thing that in times past made me to die for griefe but I prayed to God that I might see my selfe at last reuenged of her and thee and after thy marriage I haue suffered that which thou and others sufficiently knowe And in the end my Fortune hath concluded that thine shall giue me no more paine and care Let me then inioy my libertie and hope not to regaine that with me which by thine owne folly and default thou hast so fondly lost The Shepherdesse hauing made an ende of her sharpe answer and Felismena beginning to arbitrate the matter between them they heard a great noise in the other side of the meadow like to the sounde of blowes and smiting of swordes vpon harneies as if some armed men had fought togither so that all of them with great haste ranne to the place where they heard the noise to see what the matter was And being come somewhat neere they saw in a little Iland which the riuer with a round turning had made three knights fighting against one And although he defended himselfe valiantly by shewing his approoued strength and courage yet the three knights gaue him so much to do that he was faine to helpe himselfe by all the force and pollicie he could They fought on foote for their horses were tied to little trees that grew thereabouts And now by this time the knight that sought all alone and defended himselfe had laide one of them at his feete with a blowe of his good sword which ended his life But the other two that were very strong and valiant redoubled their force and blowes so thicke on him that he looked for no other thing then death The Shepherdesse Filismena seeing the knight in so great danger and if she did not speedily helpe him that he could not escape with life was not afraide to put hers in ieopardy by doing that which in such a case she thought she was bound to performe wherefore putting a sharpe headed arrowe into her bowe shee saide vnto them Keepe out knights for it is not beseeming men that make account of this name and honour to take aduantage of their enimies with so great oddes And ayming at the sight of one of their helmets she burst it with such force that the arrow running into his eies came out of the other side of his head so that he fell downe dead to the ground When the distressed knight sawe two of his enimies dead he ran vpon the third with such force as if he had but then begun the combat but Felismena helped him out of that trouble by putting another arrow into her bow the which transpiercing his armour she left vnder his left pap and so iustly smot his hart that this knight also followed his two companions When the Shepherds and the knight beheld what Felismena had done and how at two shootes she had killed two such valiant knights they were all in great woonder The knight therefore taking off his helmet and comming vnto her saide How am I able faire Shepherdesse to requite so great a benefite and good turne as I haue receiued at thy hands this day but by acknowledging this debt for euer in my gratefull minde When Felismena beheld the knights face and knew him her sences were so troubled that being in such a traunce she could scarce speake but comming to her-selfe againe she answered him Ah my Don Felix this is not the first debt wherein thou art bound vnto me And I cannot beleeue that thou wilt acknowledge this as thou saiest no more then thou hast done greater then this before Beholde to what a time and ende my fortune and thy forgetnesse hath brought me that she that was woont to be serued of thee in the citie with Tilt and Tourneyes and honoured with many other things whereby thou didst deceiue me or I suffered my selfe to be deceiued doth nowe wander vppe and downe exiled from her natiue countrey and libertie for vsing thus thine owne If this brings thee not into the knowledge of that which thou owest me remember how one whole yeere I serued thee as thy page in the Princesse Cesarinas Court and how I was a solicitor against my selfe without discouering my selfe or my thoughts vnto thee but onley to procure thy remedie and to helpe the greefe which thine made thee feele How many times did I get thee fauours from thy mistresse Celia to the great cost of my teares and greefes all which account but small Don Felix in respect of those dangers had they beene vnsufficient wherein I would haue spent my life for redresse of thy paines which thy iniurious loue affoorded thee And vnlesse thou art weary of the great loue that I haue borne thee consider and weigh with thy selfe the strange effects which the force of loue hath caused me to passe I went out of my natiue countrey and came to serue thee to lament the ill that thou did'st suffer to take vpon me the iniuries and disgraces that I receiued therein and to giue thee any content I cared not to lead the most bitter and painefull life that euer woman liued In the habite of a tender and daintie Ladie I loued thee more then thou canst imagine and in the habite of a base page I serued thee a thing more contrarie to my rest and reputation then I meane now to reherse and yet now in the habite of a poore and simple Shepherdesse I came to do thee this small seruice What remaines then more for me to doe but to sacrifice my life to thy louelesse soule if with the same yet I could giue thee more content and if in lieu
as if he went about to preferre her before himselfe For after that the woman hath deliuered herselfe into the possession of her husband she therewithal yeeldeth vp to his iurisdiction the title of her libertie by the sweete and sacred bonde of marriage Whereupon I shall see the loue thou bearest me if thou vsest this pleasant bonde according to the iust lawes thereof by setting aside the superstitious vanities of vnlawfull and wanton loue Syluanus had not let Seluagia escaped so smoothly without an answer if he had not thought it an vndecent part to defer his to the sage Lady Wherfore giuing a becke with his head to his Shepherdesse in token of thanks and that he was well pleased with her louing words he answered Felicia thus Presupposing sage Lady that we must do all that you commaund and set downe and that there is nothing more behoouefull for our welfare then your will and pleasure therein it lies to command vs whatsoeuer I feeling no greater reprehension in mine owne behalfe then that which proceedes from your wise and louing aduise saying that I haue no care of my flocks nor thought of them at all For though I confesse I haue not remembred them as reason woulde I had done yet cannot I therefore be iustly blamed but rather thinke that if I had done otherwise I might haue beene in greater fault For it were not meete since I haue receiued such benefits in your house that I shoulde forget one minute that ioy and content wherewith such sweete and pleasant thoughts are ingendred and preserued to thinke vpon those flockes that feede vpon the vnsauorie grasse And you may also beleeue that if my fewe and silly sheepe nay if the whole worlde should perish and be lost and that if it lay in my hands to helpe them both in respect of employing my high and happy thoughts the least time that might be on my faire and vertuous Shepherdesse my sheepe should remaine without helpe and the world without succour Seluagia that was not vnskilfull in paying such debts with like coine again an swered him thus As it lieth not in me my deere friend so will I not find fault with any thing thou dost which I speake to this end bicause thou shouldest not vse as I told thee before any more words so apparantly manifesting that loue whereof I doubt not Although there is nothing if I must tell the truth after the glorie that I haue conceiued in my ioyfull thoughts by being thine that can please and content me more then to see how farre by wordes and effect thy true loue extendeth For though some say That where deedes be wordes are in vaine yet I take great pleasure in hearing them when they are by all probabilitie correspondent vnto deedes and especially in matters of loue whereof we now talke For since the interiour part is a hidden and secret thing and which is soonest discouered by wordes wee must therefore not meanely account of them that pretend to make the interiour knowne by th'exteriour True it is that such words and outward actes must be measured by the effects of him that pronounceth them For oftentimes we see that many things are vttred by a false and deceitfull toong which were neuer ment in the hart Which I speake not in preiddice of thy loue my deere Shepherd or to 〈◊〉 thee of disloyaltie assuring that I am glad to heare thy words whereby besides the certaintie that I haue of thy truest loue thou makest me the most contented woman in the world And in this I take no small glory and that thy loue not able to containe it selfe within the soule flowes out by the mouth like the little pot which filled with water is hardly set on the fire without running ouer And bicause thou maist not thinke to ouercome me in affection I would wish that as loue hath giuen me deedes it had also lent me some wordes to make a full satisfaction of those true signes of thy vnfained good will which hath brought me so much in thy debt But since they are so strange vnto mee I must with onely offring that which I am able to giue endeuour to discharge my selfe thereof They all tooke great delight to heare what amorous wordes passed betweene the Shepherdes which had not ended so soone if Felicia had not cut them off saying That since the one was satisfied and content with the others answere their complements should now cease and turning to Syrenus she said And thinke not free Shepherd that I haue forgotten thee for thou shalt hereafter see woonders at my hands I know not any thing good Ladie said Syrenus wherein I may truely say you haue forgotten me since you haue made me so much remember my selfe that with cleere eies I may easily discerne not only my follies past but also those which these Gentlemen and shepherds are so fondly fallen into Euerie one laughed at Syrenus words to whom Felicia said In sooth Syrenus all are of thy opinion if not aske thy corriuall Syluanus and his beloued Seluagia The blind man answered Syrenus cannot iudge of colours Whom wilt thou haue then for iudge said Felicia Him said Syrenus that hath the eies of reason And who is he said Felicia If there be no other said Syrenus my selfe So wouldest thou giue sentence said Felicia in thine owne fauour but knowest thou not that the iudge is not admitted when he is not free from passion But I am said Syrenus Otherwise said Felicia thy iudgement would not be allowed Not for me at the least saide Syrenus though it be for others Let vs leaue this for some fitter time said Felicia And Syrenus thou shalt to morrow accompany Syluanus and Seluagia home bicause thou camest in their company hither but with condition as theirs is of thy speedie returne againe Syrenus answered that it pleased him well It is well then said Felicia and therfore let vs go take our rest with some parting song to the tune of thy free Rebecke and Syluanus and Seluagia with their enamoured Bagpipes shall answer thee Then did Syluanus take his Bagpipe for Syrenus to sing to it and Syrenus his Rebecke to play to Syluanus when he had done And so Syrenus leading the song began thus Syrenus WHo hath of Cupids cates and dainties prayed May feede his stomacke with them at his pleasure If in his drinke some ease he hath essated Then let him quench his thirsting without measure And if his weapons pleasant in their manner Let him imbrace his standard and his banner For being free from him and quite exempted Ioyfull I am and proud and well contented Syluanus Of Cupids daintie cates who hath not prayed May be depriued of them at his pleasure If wormewood in his drinke he hath essated Let him not quench his thirsting without measure And if his weapons cruell in their manner Let him abiure his standard and his banner For I not free from him and not exempted Ioyfull I am and proud and
end of all my woes Open thine eies to this I send And to my griefes giue some repose And to the end thou maist it reede It comes not from an En'mies brest But from a faithfull hart indeede And from a friend aboue the rest It is no letter that defies Defied for I am too much Alas in conquer'd men it lies Not in their power to be such In endlesse peace I seeke to liue And on thy grace I doe relie If not the doome and sentence giue Vnto my life condemn'd to die I haue contended to this howre Thy mighty forces to resist And now I finde thy onely powre Doth conquer Mistresse as thou list It is not much that in the field Vnto thy valour I giue place Since that the God of loue doth yeeld Himselfe vnto thy wounding face So that now subiect Iremaine Vnto thy sou'raine force I see Then wound me not for t' is in vaine Since wholy I doe yeeld to thee My life I put into thy hands And now doe with me at thy will But yet behold how pitie stands Entreating thee thou wouldst not kill So shalt thou make thy conquest braue If in thy spoiles and triumphes such Remorse of pitie thou wilt haue Which all the world commends so much I sawe thee sit not long agoe Feasting with ioy and pleasant fare And I bicause I could not soe Did feede vpon my woes and care There leisurely thou didst begin Of other cates and flesh to feede But I with haste did rauin in My pains wherwith my hart did bleede The Riuer water thou didst drinke With freest minde deuoid of care But I in fluds of teares did sinke The which to drinke I did not spare I sawe thee with thy little knife Cutting thy bread and meate againe And then me thought my wofull life Should in like sort be cut in twaine A little Boy sat in thy lap Thou didst imbrace him with great ioy Oh would it had beene then my hap To haue beene that same little Boy Thou gau'st to him a louing kisse What heere I felt I will repeate Let it suffice that I was this Most happy childe but in conceate But not contented vvith the same Marking the place where thou didst lay Thy lips vnto the childe I came And tooke from him the kisse avvay Each thing of thine so vvell I loue That if I see them to decay Me thinks my care it doth behoue To saue to cast them not avvay For all the bones which thou didst leaue With greedy stomacke I did picke Bicause I onely did conceaue That they thy daintie mouth did licke The place I marked of the pot That did thy Corall lips diuide When thou didst drinke and I did not Forget to drinke of that same side And with the wine which I did shed Of purpose on the cloth aboue Often in vaine these words in red My finger wrote I loue I loue Disdainfull thou dost not esteeme These signes nor these in ductions know Or dost at least as it doth seeme Dissemble it must needes be so And onely that thou dost dissemble Which might vnto my profit fall But that which makes me now to tremble Alas thou fainest not at all By seeing such effects in me That thou dost cause my heauines Thou fain'st my plaintes are not for thee But for some other Shepher desse Thou seest how for thy loue I paine And at thy gracious feete I lie To grecue me more yet dost thou faine That for another I doe die But if thy beauties in great store Engender pride of such excesse Thou must beleeue and faine no more That my pure loue is no whit lesse If thy perfections doe surpasse All beauties that the world doth breede As much as Dimond passeth glasse So doth my loue all loues exceede And when thou com'st to know that none Is worthy of thy louely grace Thou must not faine that I am one That may deserue so sweete a place I am not worthy of so deere A choice I say to be my lot Since all the world hath not thy peere For that it selfe descrues thee not And though I said so in a vaine I shall not be beleeu'd I knowe For well thou know'st what one doth faine Is of a thing which is not soe Distose of me euen at thy will And faine as much as any one So thou beleeue and faine not still That I loue none but thee alone Then on thy gentlenes I call In pitie which thou hast forgot Thou would'st not mocke my loue at all Nor faine that I doe loue thee not Great Ioue can witnesse heere to thee That it doth greeue me not so much The little loue thou bear'st to me As once to faine that mine is such Nor it doth greeue me of thy guise To see thee mocke me in such sort Or that my things in any wise May cause thy laughter and thy sport But it doth glad me without measure That thou dost mocke my loue so lost Since by such meanes I giue thee pleasure Although it be vnto my cost To make thee laugh I doe adiure The heauens as I thy loue may ioy That many times I doe procure To doe and tell thee many a toy And though I know none willomit To call me foole not without cause A simple man of little wit Sweruing too much from reasons lawes Yet Shepherdesse it skils me not Nor it doth not my minde dismay That all repute me for a sot So I may please thee any way Since that I cannot Shepherdesse With things in earnest please thy vaine I will content thee at the lest Frō hence with toies though to my pain To thee they are but things in iest For so thou mean'st to take them all But euer to my painfull brest True they haue proou'd and so they shall Mocke me thy fill since thou dost make It all thy glee thy sport and laughter But I doe wish that Loue may take A narrow count of thee heereafter I once did also iest with loue Loue did I scoffe and loue despise But to my paine I now doe proue What did thereof to me arise And this is that poore silly mee This wicked traitor brought vnto But woe is me that now with thee I knowe not what he meanes to do With iestes and sports of thousand fashions Two thousand fauors thou didst lend me But yet the God of loue to passions In earnest turnes them to offend me With thine owne hand O what a thing In iesting didst thou carue to me In iest thou saidst and sometimes sing Mine onely Shepherd thoushalt be O sweetest foode of sauourie tast Of force my poore lafe to maintaine Sweet words whose sound did bind me fast Of force to giue me rest againe Both word and deede and what did passe Though but a merry iest it were yet So singular a grace it was That in my brest I cannot beare it To sickest men to giue great store Of meate and so much as they craue It is not
for the Shepherd was yet sleeping and the old man and the other Shepherdesse were still embracing each other Lord Felix comming to them both said Thou shouldest haue enough noble Lord of these vnfit embracements Whereat Felicia laughed to her-selfe to see how much in their mindes they disdained the Shepherdesse But the old man said Nowe may yee O Gods conclude my many daies with their last period since you haue granted me this vnspeakeable fauour to see my deerest daughter now may yee make an end of my wearied yeeres hauing before mine eies my onely beloued Stela for so was the Shepherdesse called that spake vnto him Stela mine onely hope my ioy and comfort of my life To this end my praiers tended to lengthen my decaying life and to see this ioyfull day This was the white whereat my petitions oblations and sacrifices aymed for prorogation of my death And now let it come when it wil since I haue her in my presence who in despite of death maintaines my life but yet gentle death rather then by any other misfortune that may ensue I might be depriued of her againe come and bereaue me of this common light O my deerest daughter who did take thee away from me for I coulde neuer beleeue that of thine owne accord thou wouldst haue left me without first taking leaue of thy louing father Woe befall to thee false Shepherde that liest there asleepe and an ill end betide thy friend wheresoeuer he be if he hath it not yet already Bende not thy eares O Iupiter saide the Shepherdesse to this cruell petition but rather turne it vpon me a thing more requisite for my miseries and not on them whose goodnes neuer deserued any ill at all I will not consent good Father nor be content to heare them accursed that in all points are so faultlesse Lo Loue she would haue said hath erred if modestie and maidenly shame had not staied her toong in the middest I haue erred or rather my Fortune to speake more truely hath beene to blame by granting me no meanes to take my leaue of thee Felicia who knewe the cause of the Shepherdesse her greefe said Let these excuses now cease And Parisiles forsake thy sadnes since now thou inioyest thine onely desire Who turning to sage Felicia and marking with what graue auctoritie she spake vnto him said vnto her Whosoeuer thou art noble Ladie whether thou dost recken thy selfe in the number of mortall women or art registred in the Catalogue of the immortall Gods for such an one thou seemest to be pardon me if hitherto I haue not done my obliged duetie and reuerence hauing so pitifull and condigne a cause of pardon in euerie thing hereafter I am wholy at thy deuotions and subiect to thy commaund whatsoeuer It is well said Felicia we shall thinke of that hereafter And bicause I will make thee more ioyfull then euer thou thoughtest to be for from him thy comfort shall proceed of whom thou dost most complaine let vs goe to rest vs vnder the shadowes of those Laurell trees neere to the siluer fountaine brincke and that thou maist beleeue my words to be true know that I am Felicia if euer my name hath sounded in thine eares Parisiles then with the Shepherdesses fell downe on their knees to kisse her hands saying Who of all those that honour our immortall Gods is there that is ignorant of the portion which thou hast with them Felicia lifted them all three vp and would not suffer them to do her such honour and taking one of the Shepherdesses by the hand called Crimine said to all the rest Go you my Sonnes to the fountaine and rest you there while I talke with this Shepherdesse and with that Shepherd a word or two And thou my friend Parisiles with thy deere daughter shalt keepe them company and tell them some famous historie or antiquite vntill it be time to go in to dinner Then taking Crimine by the hand she went towards the Shepherd that was yet sleeping all this while and shaking him by the shoulder awaked him said He should sleep but a little that comes as a guard to two faire yoong Shepherdesses Whereat the vnknowen Shepherd awaked and not seeing Stela without making the sage Ladie any answere with a sudden sursault of griefe said O Crimine where is Stela Be not afraid said Felicia for she is not far from hence Thou mightest do better to looke more aduisedly to thy selfe when as but euen now thy temporall slumber had verie neere cast thee into thy last and endlesse sleepe They of whose liues and honours they chose thee their onely ampare had more care to faue thy late endangered person then thou hadst of thy selfe or them And bicause thou maist see vnto what extremitie thy fates had almost brought thee knowe that it is not long since the knife was at thy throate readie to cut it The Shepherd could not imagine what she meant by these words nor what companie that was that sat about the fountaine where turning his eies about to see Stela he espied her but Crimine secretly admonished him to doe his duetie to Felicia who then making low obeisance vnto her craued pardon of her Felicia then told him in order what had passed and how Parisiles forgetting his aged weaknes and ayded by the force of his furie would haue killed him how they would not let him with that that folowed In the end the Shepherd was verie sad when he knew that old Parisiles was there not for feare of him but bicause he now thought to loose his beloued Stela which sage Felicia perceiuing said vnto him Abandon Shepherd these sorrowfull thoughts for all shall redound to thy content and ioy for now thou art in such a place where thou shalt haue no wrong and where thy passed troubles those of thy sweet company deerest friends shall be better ended then thou art able to imagine To all this the Shepherd could yeeld no more but humble thankes though it was not sufficient to comfort him bicause he was absent from a deere friend of his whom he loued more then himselfe and who euer requited him with no lesse loue againe as by manie proofes most often it appeered For well might they two haue been the thirde number annexed to the onely two paire of friends that after so manie thousande yeeres were accounted in the world for the greatest But the Lady Felicia assured him how she would finde out some meanes to haue him thither out of hande At which words he fell downe on his knees and kissed her hands for any thing that she could do the contrarie In these and other speeches they went talking vp and downe a pretie while But God knowes how Crimine was ashamed of her-selfe before Felicia though it was not long for Felilia did remedie that by and by hauing taken her aside to no other ende from the rest of the companie While these three were in these speeches Lord
To be accounted chaste of euerie one And that her chiefest honour did consist In honest pure and vndefiled life Now therefore as the virgine did not know Bicause her minde was soon vertue bent What thing loue was nor due of marriage rites To hunt it was her onely ioy and sport Then hither came this gallant Nymph to chase Where proud Apollo went by chaunce to hunt Not thinking to finde out so farie a game Bicause his breast free from the thoughts of loue Was onely bent in thinking of his spoile He was so glad and did triumphe so much Within himselfe that he did neuer thinke Of any thing but this till to his harme He cast his wandring eies vnto the place Where he did spie faire Daphne in her chace The good old man Parisiles went prosecuting his historie carrying all his hearers with him verie silent by reason that the substance thereof as also the stile wherewith he told it delighted them verie much when they perceiued the sage Felicia comming with Crimine and the vnknowen Shepherd towardes them whose comming made not Stela a little glad for she lent but a small eare to the tale bicause the Shepherd was not in her companie But Parisiles turning his head and seeing Felicia said Behold how it fals out true which I feared my tale shall breake off till another day when we will haue fitter time and place for it wherein nothing shall be lost hauing made so good a beginning By no meanes saide Doria will I consent hereunto The like did all affirme with one voice Then came Felicia and as they were rising to do her honour they saw the Shepherd that came with her to be the fairest most gracious and goodliest youth of person as euer they beheld before His weedes were of gray cloth to signifie by that colour his troubles and griefes All along the border of his coate and sleeues went three ribons or laces of sundry colours two of them on either side of Lion tawney and Oliue greene to signifie by the first his sorrow and by the second his torment That in the mids of his sorrow and torment was his hope Other things did the Shepherd weare worthie himselfe and to be marked But Parisiles did hinder them bicause Crimine returned now cleane and washed at Felicias request whom now he also knew and therefore with a loud voice with casting vp his eies to heauen he said And is it true O Iupiter which with mine eies I here behold O sweete Nymph my friend and mistresse Is it possible thou art here If I had knowen my deere daughter had gone in thy company I would haue somewhat moderated my griefe for her absence And being come to her with reuerence he louingly embraced her But both of them desiring earnestly to know the meanes of their vnlooked for comming to that place Felicia said Defer this till further time for I know these questions will not hereafter a little delight this companie Come thou Crimine and speake to all this companie who will be verie glad of thine They were a prettie while in congratulations and conuesies wondering at Crimines beautie and therefore at last thus said Why did such a shining gemme as this Ladie Felicia goe hidden in such a base couerture if her conpanion be such another do vs this fauour to make her wash her selfe To auoide all danger by reason of their tempting beautie said Felicia and not to be molested like those that haue suffered many inconueniences for theirs they haue gone thus disfigured in apparell and face As for the washing of this yoong Shepherdesse pointing to Stela it shall remaine at my pleasure when I will request her to doe it for dinner being nowe readie I will deferre it till some other time for feare I should giue you a dinner against your stomacke for washing nowe her fowle face and handes will not perhaps make you eat so much as otherwise you would and make you haue a lesse appetite then to see them in the manner that nowe they be But if you like not of her companie at dinner she shall sit by her selfe and dine with Parisiles in whose eies she is nothing so soule nor ill-fauoured And then turning to her Nymphes she commanded them to bring in dinner who presently came in with it But if you please good Lady said Lord Felix command Parisiles first to make an end of the tale he hath begun Since you will haue it so said Felicia I will entreat not command him It were great reason sage Lady saide Parisiles to hold my peace not to shewe so great rudenes before your singular wisedome if it were not more to obey your iust command It is well saide Felicia leaue off this and do that which all the companie heere requesteth thee Parisiles then began thus Obeying then most willingly great Lady what you haue giuen me in charge and purposing to tell the cause why this Oke was planted betweene these two Laurel trees I haue touched the gifts that Apollo gaue to the Laurell tree when Daphne was turned into it From whence this noble company did not suffer me to passe any further though I alleaged some excuses to the contrary but that I must needes from the beginning recount this transformation of Daphne into a Laurell tree And so hauing told of the glorious victorie that Apollo had of the serpent Python and of the quarrell and contention betweene him and Cupid for carying both one weapon I went on along telling how Apollo being proud of this conquest by chance cast his eies vpon the faire and chaste Nymph Daphne And when you came hither good Lady with Crimine you gaue a gracious impediment to my tale So that now since it is your pleasure I will proccede in it beginning onely but with a worde or two recited before to annexe that and this that followeth the better togither APollo being in this heauenly ioy For victorie by Pythons death obtain'd Lift vp by chaunce his eies and spi'de the Nymphe The fairest Nymphe as euer he did see Whom at the first he onely did behold With an impartiall eye a common thing And onely markt her beautie and her grace And with that common kinde of honest loue In praise of her these louing wordes did moue What Nymph might yonder be So fine with her dishieueled haire That in this forrest hunteth all alone I will goe neere to see If that she be indeed so faire As she doth seeme Ah Godheades there is none In all your heauenly throne No Goddesse nor no power diuine With beautie and good grace That nature doth imbrace Then this in whom most cleerely shine Her giftes and chiefest art As many as to all she did impart But Cupid seeing her in such estate Thought it high time to punish the contempt And brauing words that proud Apollo vs'd And now to be reuenged on his head With more dishonor and with greater shame He did prepare him to assaile his foe
With those same weapons that were threatned him So with his headed shaft of beaten gold He smot his brest and pass'd his carelesse hart Omitting not to wound faire Daphnes to With that of hate headed with heauie lead And so with this the Boy remayned glad And well did see though blind what he had done And thus content in minde he did depart Vpon some others to imploy his might O blinded Boy of strong and mightie force Where none is found but onely in thy hands That more the one with feruent loue doth burne The more the other freezeth with disdaine And proud Apollo now thou shalt perceiue That think'st no equall God to thee in heauen Nor celebrated in the earth beaneth With such like honours which thou claym'st alone That there is one that raignes in heauen and earth In hell and euerie corner of the world More puissant then any other God Bicause thou art inuentor of the skill Of phisicke and of musickes sweetest art Bicause besides thou tell'st with secret power Things that are past and present and to come Thou think'st thou raign'st alone as Soueraigne Now art thou subiect to a sillie maide Too base if she be paragon'd to thee And yet this greeues him not but that the more He loues this Nymph the more doth she contemne His mightie loue and all his vainest suites Faire Daphnes hart is hardened and congealed In loue of this great God of heauen aboue Apollos hart consumes with burning heat In loue of this poore maide in earth beneath The God desireth to inioy her loue And after this desire commeth hope But here his Oracles deceiue him much For in these things diuining is but vaine So with this hope which is but vaine and false He doth maintaine and feede his barren loue And feeling with great paine his burning fire To Cupid in this sort he mildly spake What fire is it that thus my breast doth tame And yet no flame I see that 's manifest Is this thy best reuenge O Cupid tell Fierce God and fell which on me thou dost take Hovv dost thou make the mightie Gods to bend And dost offend the rich the proud and vvise And dost despise and tame the great and small So easie shall not flixe nor tovv be burn'd Nor reeds be turned to fire laid thereby Alas as I vvith thy reuenging games Do burne in flames for thou hast made my hart To feele the smart of loue and vvith thy might And golden flight hast cruell vvounded it Which thou hast smit and smitten stolne avvay And made decaye of it vvithin my brest Where novv no rest nor vvonted ioyes do dvvell Then cruell tell the same vvhere hast thouput Where hast thou shut my hart of sorrovv vvhat And is that perhaps O that it is And novv in this faire forrest do they vse Thus to abuse Gods harts and steale and kill From hence I vvill Cupid make thee my mate And friend though late for euer thou shalt be Since linked me thou hast in such a chaine Her haire doth staine the golden Colchos fleece Which out of Greece Iason shall saile to seeke Her face and cheeke enameled vvith red With vvhite be spread passing the Roses gay In moneth of May that dare not come in place To see her face nor yet the Lillie vvhite Approch in sight vvhere her braue beautie shines Aurora pines in seeing her and dyes Her tvvinkling eies more then the heauenly lights In frostie nights doe shine where Gupid skips Her rubie lips with praise shall not be vouch't But onely touch't and kist of mine againe Her necke so plaine and smooth nothing doth owe Vnto the snowe for pure vnspotted white What els O spite her wrongfull garments grudge To shew I iudge that nature made each part With such braue art as neuer humane eies Did see the like or heauenly thought deuise Whilste God Apollo wandreth in her praise Daphne with hastie foote doth flie away Which when he did perceiue these wordes in vaine Continuing still his speech to her did say O thou the skies that dost excell stay stay Fly not away so fast thy friend I am So flies the lambe from rauening woolfe away The Hart againe of cruell death afraid With hart dismaid doth from the Lion flie The doues doe hie them from their praying king With trembling wing so each thing here belowe Flies from his foe But Loue that burnes Apollo Doth make him follow thee with friendly pace O see each place whereon thy feete doe tread With thornes bespread vnworthily to beare them The stones doe weare them like the shauing file Then stay a while and haste not so I pray Sharpe is the way and I for nothing would My following should make thee faire Nymph to fall I pray thee all I may to moderate Thy hastie gate and I with milder pace To saue thy face from hurt will follow thee Oh didst thou see and know but who it is That mooueth his great l ue vnto thee so Thou wouldst I knowe not flie but tarie still To knowe my will and thinke that thou wert blest To be possest of such a Lord so high I dwell not I in this poore harren hill Though heere I kill wilde beastes for my delight I hold by right as much as Tanais streames And Titans beames doe see where they arise This I despise but onely for thy sake Where thou didst take thy beauties first of all Which countrie shall be reard vnto the skies In all mens eies vvith fame and dignitie And lou'd of me more then th' Imperiall seate Of heauen so great from vvhence faire Nymph I came Neither I am a Shepherd nor doe keepe Cattell or sheepe but vvhat loue doth commend To me to tend In Delphos for mine honour Of vvhich the ovvnour I am incense burnes Claros by turnes and Tenedos likevvise Burne sacrifice to me The lands vvhich great Xanthus doth vveat vvherevvith such sudden voice I doe reioice the harts of them that craue Ansvvers to haue by Oracle diuine Delphos is mine and famous there I am Of birth I came more noble then the rest For at the lest the Gods are kinne to mee First in degree great Ioue my father is And she ywish that raignes in heauenly seate A Goddesse great Latona fairer then Faire Titan when in all his chiefest pride Vnto his bride Aurora he doth hast By me things past and those that present be I know and see and things to come can tell I do excell in verse and sweetest song With arme most strong I draw my bow and flight Where it doth light it hits with sure wound Yet haue I found that Cupids certaine arrow Doth hit more narrow in my wounded breast Where all my rest and pleasures it hath spent I did inuent the art of medicine My wit diuine found out the secret power Of euerie flower and herbs whose vertues still Vnto my skill and practise subiect bee But woe is me that neither herbe nor pill Nor phisickes skill
vpon him and pace by pace went towardes the sea shore that was hard by putting now and then his foore into the water Aboue the second figure of his first space the Bull leapt indeede into the sea before him vpon whose backe the Damsell sitting with great feare and not regarding her wette and drenched garmentes thought good to holde fast by his hornes to saue her selfe from falling turning her pitifull face and wrinkled for feare to the shore which shee was forced to leaue When they had behelde this peece turning the sheepe-hooke a little about they sawe in the second peece of it a goodly Shepherd amongst a flocke of sheepe wearing vpon his yellow lockes a bande of fine white silke loose to tie them vp on either side bicause they might not hang downe about his eies Whom for that a little before he was more earnestly and with more brightnes beholding the Moone they knew to be Endimion In the vpper part thereof they saw the selfesame man lying vpon the massie body of a tree cut down and the Moone with her artes power endeuouring to cast him into a deepe sleepe The intent why she had to make him sleepe was vnderstoode by that which followed for when he was asleepe she was louingly kissing the faire youth In the thirde part or space of it was the Goddesse Iuno talking with a Shepherd that had a hundred eies named Argus pointing with her finger to a faire white heyfer which she commanded him to keepe well and threatning him if he did otherwise The same Argus a little farther was sitting vpon a rocke with his ninetie eight eies which then watched looking stedfastly vpon the heyfer that was cōmitted to his charge In the vpper peece Mercurie was passing by in a shepherds habite playing on a Baggepipe who being inuited by Argus to sit downe and rest him at the sweetenes of his musicke all his eies fell asleepe A little before that Argus being killed by Mercurie he caried the heyfer away or to say more properly Io transformed into a heyfer and gaue her to Iupiter In the fourth part in Xanthus riuer bankes was Alexander engrauen who was afterwards called Paris casting his left arme about a Nymphes necke called Enone and with his right hande caruing these letters in a poplar the smooth barke whereof serued him for paper and a sharpe knife for pen and inke First shall these christ all streames their courses backward mooue Before I will forget my sweete and deerest Loue. A little farther was the Nymph with this Shepherd among'st the boughes of a lowe Tamarisque despoyling the harmlesse Nightingale of her deerest pretie ones and the sorrowfull Dame fluttering vp and downe ouer their heads and for that iniurie crying for vengeance to the impartiall heauens In the peece aboue Mercurie was shewing Paris who from that time tooke this name a golden apple pointing to it with a wande in his hand to giue it to the fairest of those three Goddesses that came with him A little before this were the three Goddesses stripping themselues naked at Paris command the better to giue his iudgement and after hauing viewed them on euery side and each ones seuerall beautie he gaue it to Venus who remained very proud and loftie by obtayning the prize and the other two hanging downe their heads with sadde countenances and angry against the Shepherd In the steele of it diuers artificiall sports were carued and sundry kindes of huntings not to be told or written heere to auoide tediousnes Although Lord Felix and the Shepherdes Seluagia and the Nymphes euery one by themselues viewed the sheepehooke yet Parisiles would neuer take it in his hands bicause it belonged to that Shepherd whom he hated aboue althings in the worlde After they had seene and marked the sheepehooke well and commended the fine workemanship and deuises of it Syrenus asked the Shepherd if he himselfe had made it The Shepherd answered no nor knew by whom it was made but onely him that gaue it him It seemed he meant thee no ill said Syrenus when he gaue thee so rich a gift as this Nay rather said Crimine he that gaue it him was euen then and yet is the most mortall enimie he hath and gaue it him to as cruell an intent and purpose as was euer heard of bicause it might haue beene the meanes to haue brought this Shepherd to a violent and vntimely death as it hath beene the occasion not onely of his banishment and ours but also of the cruell imprisonment of his deerest friend At these words the Shepherd Stela and Crimine could not hold their teares whereupon they would aske them no more of that matter But Felicia saide I knowe my friend Parisiles that it greeues this yoong people that you and I are heere who hauing respect and reuerence to our age cannot conuerse togither with such discourses as are most agreeable to their mindes and common amongst yoong folkes Let vs therefore giue them place if you thinke it best and go and talke togither for our pastimes shall be no lesse delightfull vnto vs then their 's to them But bicause they are a suspicious kinde of people Stela and Crimine shall go with vs. They laughed all at these last words and then without more adoe Felicia and they three went walking out of that meadow But as they were going being a little way from the fountaine where most of the company was Felicia saide to them that went with her Staie heere a little for I haue forgotten to warne them of one thing wherefore being come backe to the fountaine she saide to the vnknowne Shepherd Since I haue to talke with Parisiles about a matter concerning thee thy friend and the content of you all my departure from hence is to withdrawe Parisiles Crimine and Stela from this place bicause thou maist the better report to them that staie heere with thee who thou art or at the least as much as thou knowest of thy selfe why and how thou didst bring so good cōpanie with thee for as they greatly desire to heare it so shall I thinke thou dost much for me if thou wilt affoord me and them this content When she had said thus she went backe againe to her companie which she left staying for her with whom she walked to a secret place where sitting downe she saide Sit downe Parisiles and daughters forbeare vs a little or else go walke vp and downe there for I will not haue you beare witnes of the loue that I haue to impart to Parisiles They two therefore remaining all alone Felicia told him all that heereafter shall be rehearsed and that he should not take it in ill part that his daughter went in the Shepherds companie for such an one he was by whom nothing should be lost and the rather since he had entertained her and her loue with the greatest puritie and sinceritie in the worlde And that he shoulde expect that all things should succeede by a
sit downe by them It is not for that saide Felicia but for great respect of loue and dutie that he beareth to the yoonger who in her presence could neuer finde in his hart to sit but onely when others were in companie from whom he thought it best to conceale his passions Why is he so sadde saide Seluagia for as I remember and coulde gather by his letter his Shepherdesse could not doe nor say anie thing wherein he tooke not great ioy and contentment I but Fortune hath nowe turned her wheele saide Felicia for then and euer since for the reward of his loue he onely enioyed the presence and sweete company of his Shepherdesse the force from whence his ioyes and comforts sprung but now for some certaine daies he is forced to depart from her which farewell breedeth no lesse his present greese sorrow And that which giues him greater paine is that he knowes not when hee shall see her againe But harke and giue attentiue care for now they command him to sing whereupon they sawe him take his Rebecke out of his scrip and with a playning voice began thus to sing PHillis my faire yoong Shepherdesse That from thee by and by I must depart O heauinesse O that no but woe that I. O from the world that now I might depart Since that I must my ioy forgo thy sight For now I liue too long Then kill my hart Mishap if thou wilt grant me so much right Or fatall sisters now consent That she or I might die I craue it to a good intent O that no but woe that I. Pardon it is not I that doe desire Thy sudden and thy wrongfull death not I. It is my loue my hot and burning fire That made my toong so much to goe awrie And feare it is that mooues my hart And thoughts of iealousie Since thou dost stay and I depart O that no but woe that I. Such iealousies they are not thou must thinke That thou some other loue wilt entertaine For I doe knowe that loue can neuer sinke Into thy brest vnto my cruell paine But iealousie thou wilt forget Heereafter and denie That one did see another yet O that no but woe that I. But if thou dost faire Shepherdesse suspect To burie me in Lethes lake let greefe Before thou shouldst so ill my loue respect Consume my life let death be my relcefe Then thou shouldst thinke but such a thought First faire one let me die Although it shall be deerely bought O that no but woe that I. To rid my selfe from such n cruell paine I would destroy my selfe and purchase rest But then to kill thee I doe feare againe Bicause thou dwellest heere within my brest Doe then a noble deede my life From thence with speede to flie That then I may conclude this strife O that no but woe that I. Bargaine with me let me this fauour craue To leaue my hart that so thy harme doth dread Thy place againe then after thou shalt haue If thou maist come to it when it is dead For if thou once goest foorth I will To death with courage hte And then my vitall powers kill O that no but woe that I. As if it lay within thy handes and powre Sweete Shepherdesse forsake my wofull hart But yet thou canst not goe from thence one howre Neither can I although I would depart Nor yet I would not though I might I say I would not die But yet bicause I loose thy sight O that no but woe that I. If that I am in any thing to thee Gratefull this fauour then of thee I pray Thou wouldst when I am gone remember me And say where is my Shepherd all this day Then would I count my greefe but small If thou wilt not deny This thing or thinke of me at all Woe that no but O that I. Then say but I although it be in iest And neuer meanst thy promise to maintaine Thou shalt thereby procure some little rest Vnto my parting soule which I will faine Little I craue to ease my hart And paines yet let me trie This fauour Then I will depart O that no but woe that I. As he thus made an end of his song they rose vp and the yonger called Phillis made a signe to the Shepherd with her singer to reach her vp her scrip and Sheepehooke that lay on the ground at whose hands though in most dutifull manner he did it she receiued them with no more thankes or shew of courtesie then if one of hir swaines had giuen it her And then with a word or two of the Shepherdesses but with his many teares the mournefull Shepherd tooke his leaue whereat Phillis being mooued to some small sorrowe and to no lesse greefe for his departure tooke out of her scrip a fine little spoone the same perhaps that she her selfe did eate with and gaue it him wherewith the Shepherd did somewhat mitigate his helpelesse sorrow and then they went out of the meadow one way and the Shepherd another Might it not be well done saide Felismena to Felicia to talke with those Shepherdesses before they goe Not now answered Felicia for heereafter you shall knowe all when their due time shall come wherein you shall then take as great delight to see and conuerse with Phillis and Castalius for so is the Shepherd called that was with them as now perhaps some little greefe for their departure whereas besides it is not now so conuenient bicause I knowe we should make them not a little ashamed The Shepherdesses therefore being now gone out they went into the little meadow to the christalline fountaine where in set daunces and sweete songs accompanied with pleasanthistories and gracious speeches they spent the time till Felicia thought it good for them all to goe to the Temple when she came to warne them Who it seemed did neuer awake or take care for any other thing then where and after what maner she might best delight that noble companie Whereupon she caried them sometimes to the goodly plaine before the Temple other times to another pleasant meadow neere to the wood and sometimes to the Laurell fountaine Truth it is that to haue all possible ioy Don Felix and his faire Lady Felismena Syluanus and his louing Shepherdesse Seluagia needed not to seeke it out in exteriour things since their inwarde ioy to see themselues all fower with mutuall affection so happily beloued was so great that all others in respect of this were but meere shewes and shadowes Syrenus tooke a singular pleasure to beholde the contentment of them all whom so vnfainedly he loued The Nymphes not onely procured it for themselues but to delight them all in generall And Parisiles his anger being now past with that which Felicia had told him and shaking off his former sadnes by enioying the presence of his daughter was no lesse ioyfull then the rest But Stela and Crimine were in suspence betweene solace and sorrow comfort and care being cheered on
ashen dish out of one of their scrips and ranne to the riuer for some water and hauing brought it besprinkled both their faces with it who being therewith and with shaking them a little awaked with a merier countenance then courage I said vnto them What faintnes of hart is this yoong Shepherds Yee are but yoong Apprentises it seemes in Cupids seruice since you will giue him ouer at the first encounter by leauing your liues in his hands But faine would I know Parthenius for then I imagined nothing of his secret loue what made thee so much besides thy selfe for the cause of Delicius his griefe and of his sudden traunce I know well enough What did Stelas sharpe answere touch thee so neere No answered Parthenius What was it then said I againe Parthenius who would not for all the world haue manifested the loue he bare to Stela answered bicause I saw my deere Delicius in some danger whose chiefest desires and their full accomplishment I rather wish with greater content and in higher degree then mine owne It greeued me not Gentlemen to heare him speake this for now had the impatient worme of iealousie begun to gnaw my throbbing hart I beleeue thee said Felismena but knowest thou what I thinke of all these matters and contentions that thou hast tolde That thou wert the onely gayner since thou enioyedst so pleasant though so small a time being in such sort as thou wert with Parthenius By our virgin rights I sweare to thee saide Crimine that I would rather haue beene depriued of that delightfull being with my Parthenius so that I had beene excused of the great greefe I had to see him in so pitifull a case For if thou hast not tried faire Ladie yet happily thou maist haue heard say That a pleasure or delight is but halfe tasted which is distempered by one bitter greefe or sorrow But leauing this aside will you knowe said Felismena whereupon I haue thought Whereon said Crimine On this said Felismena musing with my selfe how thou couldest call the Shepherdes by their owne names whereas thou saiedst they could not be knowen one from another for their great likenes which caused thee to request some priuie tokens to discerne them which hitherto yet thou hast not told vs. So that I conceiue not how without knowing them distinctly as if the difference were now made thou shouldst name them so right giuing to each his proper name Thou saiest well faire Lady said Crimine But that which is already told may satisfie thy demaund For Delicius alone was the man I said that loued at the lest openly without telling whom vntill this last accident befell which we by his speeches and so soone as he had but opened his mouth easily gathered so that although we knew not them when we came to them yet by the manner of their talke we were afterwardes cleered of that doubt It is well said Doria And as thou louest thy selfe faire Crimine proceede in this historie of your loue and fortune for I am partaker of some of the paine wherein thou leftest the solitarie and sorrowfull Shepherdes To comfort them in their great greefe saide Crimine I reasoned with them with some apparant and consolatorie wordes but the afflicted Shepherdes ceased not to powre out abundance of teares with no small quantitie of burning sighes whereupon blaming them sometimes and sometimes incouraging them I endeuoured to cheere them vp but all was not ynough to disburden them of despaire in that sorrowfull place if I had not armed them with an apparant hope to restore Delicius to Stelas fauour againe by enioying it more then euer he had before though he would not haue meanely contented him with that alone whereof he was depriued without requesting any more But thinking it was now more then conuenient time to goe my waies I tooke my leaue of the Shepherdes promising them to doe what possibly I could in their affaires in the which I onely commended patience vnto them for a few daies telling them that a hard impostume in the beginning could not be cured vntill by time and plaisters laide thereunto it be first mollified and made tender and that in the meane while I would not with other Nymphes forget to visit them though not so often as I desired not to leaue Stela all alone as also for auoiding of suspicion In this space of time bicause Delicius and Parthenius did leade so sad and vncomfortable a life which by no kinde of pastime could be cheered and also bicause the vowed time of Gorphorosts comming abroade was neere at hand all our company was dissolued Parthenius who was not onely carefull for that which touched him but especially for that which was needefull for his friend went sometimes walking vp and downe along the riuer bankes and by singing many amorous and sorrowfull sonnets practised to enter into familiaritie friendship with fierce Gorphorost bicause they might by these meanes whilest hee kept him companie and tolde him many things to please his louing humour without any danger continue still in that forrest and also bicause holding him other times with tales and discourses Delicius my selfe and Stela if Stela perhaps grewe afterwards to be more gentle might in the meane time be secure in mutuall company togither Parthenius therefore beginning his walkes in this sorte fierce Gorphorost came downe from a high hill whom when Parthenius beheld he sat him downe vpon a round banke made by the water and plaied on his Baggepipe so loud that Gorphorost might heare him But scarce had the sound thereof pierced his eares when step by step which any other Shepherd with running very fast could not out-goe he came to the riuer bankes on the other side when Parthenius sawe him nigh at hande he left his Baggepipe and taking his Rebecke began to sing in the praise of loue for afterwards he told vs all the matter the which for that it made for his purpose as also for the sweetnes of the song delighted not a litle the fierce shepherd who had foorthwith passed to the other side where Parthenius was if he had not feared by cōming vpon him vnawares to haue made him run away though he was now somewhat assured to the contrarie when hee sawe Parthenius being so nigh vnto him not once begin to stir nor to leaue of his singing whereon presuming a little he spake thus vnto him aloude for the distance of the place by reason of the great riuer being betweene the noise which the waters running with great force continually made were an impediment that he could not be so well heard So may this God be euer fauourable vnto thee iolly Shepherd if thou wilt giue mee leaue to come to thee to enioy part of thy sweete musicke and songs for by her that hath sole power ouer my hart I sweare thou shalt not nowe nor at any time heereafter haue any harme at my hands Parthentus hereupon made him a signe to come
my cheefest intent was to see Parthenius and not to helpe him which to get the good will of both was no good way at all I coulde giue thee other reasons faire Nymph but let this suffice But returning to that I was telling when I asked for Parthenius Delicius saide he was gone to Gorphorost and tolde me of the new friendship lately begun between them both whereof though I was somewhat afraide yet I could not thoose but thinke well of his policie to tary the safer and longer time in those parts I would haue stayed for him vntill he had come to haue counselled him how he might haue conuersed and behaued himselfe with that fierce Shepherd But I must needs go bicause Delicius told me that he would not come so soone againe for that Gorphorost was determined to shewe him the Iland and the Caue where he dwelt The next day before our accustomed hower chalenging Stela for her promise I carried her with me to the wonted place the which a Nymph to whose lot it befell that day watched as I said to see if any danger was at hand We going on therefore that way and Stela seeing the shadowes to be but narrow said We go too soone for the Shepherds be not yet come and admit they were it is not decent nor conuenient for vs to go before our accustomed howers bicause they might not thinke that being so desirous to see them we preuented our wonted time If therefore friend thou thinkest good let vs goe into the thickest of the forrest here to walke vnder the shades while it is fitter time to go I told her I was content bad her leade the way But going in this sort from tree to tree we might perceiue in the tender barke of a great and tall ashe from as high as a man of more then a meane stature might reach from the ground certaine verses written verie small and close togither and comming to the same to see what they were I began to read them as followeth SInce all my fortunes are so ouerthwart And so vnequall to my iust pretence That where dame Nature Mistresse of her art Did make an end to frame each beauties part There all my ils and sorrowes did commence Auguish and woes fierce torments griefe and paine With their braue force my soule doe ouerrunne That they doe worke it to their onely vaine As blustring windes vpon the cloudes and raine Or as the snowe that meltes before the sunne And then since that my wet and wearied eies Were woont to be enuious once to see Bicause they sawe the seate where nature lies With all her treasures and the chiefest prize Of beautie that in all the world might be Now shall they onely seeke and wish this hire Continually in bitternes to weepe Now shall they burne in swelling teares like fire And now in lieu of seeing that desire My cheekes in them shall neuer cease to sleepe Since th' absence of the Nymph I loue so much Hath deyn'd to beare me company of late Then needes my life must languish and be such That greefes and sorrowes will not also grutch To follow absence as their chiefest mate And since my Star is hid and gone away Whereby my life and senses I did guide I cannot choose but erre and goe astray And liue in senselesse darknes euery day Finding no light wherein I may abide And now exiled shall my body flie Since hard mishap the same did so oppresse But yet my soule shall euermore be nie And shall be neuer absent though I die From the sweete body of my Shepherdesse And so if that my vitall powers quaile Or bodie die by wandring heere and there Impossible it is my soule should faile Or death or danger should the same assaile Accompanying her body any where My soule for euer doth in her remaine My body but for absence doth lament That though my wretched body now is faine To wander heere yet doth my loue restraine My soule to stay that neuer would consent Then miserable body once begin This sorrowfull departure with no wonder To feele with paine and greefe And neuer lin To waile the cruell torments thou art in With soule and body parting thus asunder You shall my drenched eies no lesse then this Feele this great miserie that greeues me soe Your companie heere shall not be amisse Since that you were the onely fault ywisse Of all my troubles and tormenting woe Then seas of teares begin to drowne your marge And weepe for your attempt so rashly done Let weeping be your office and your charge And care no more to looke so much at large Let it suffice you sawe another sunne The intellectuall and inward eies Shall onely haue this charge and care to see And you my corporall with mournefull cries Bewaile my harmes in which no comfort lies Onely to you this office I decree And those which are impassible at all Shall see at length and in succeeding time Impossible and strange things to befall And you as passible heerafter shall Weary your selues by meanes of such a crime For you they shall with double sight behold That shining blaze that braue and glorious sight Without the feare of hurt and shall be bold With great delight their senses to vnfold On that which did your lookes with harme requite They shall behold that now I am and was Condemn'd without the course of iustice lore For if I did offend to loue her as My selfe then I confesse this fault did passe To make me suffer what I can no more And of this thing I meane not to repent For happen will what happen shall to prooue Each amorous torment I am well content And with good will with meere and franke consent I yeeld vnto the harme that comes of loue In louing her I doe all what I may Though to my minde it falleth out amisse I promise to forget her euery way And that my loue for euer shall decay If she would leaue to be what now she is Alas she cannot leaue to be the same A thing it is her minde that well doth please Hauing no peere in cruell beauties fame Nor I cannot but still maintaine this flame Nor t' is a thing conuenient for mine ease And if she said to me with little loue That it were best for me to hate and scorne And should finde ease if I began to prooue The same I answere that it doth behooue Me still to choose the worse to worser borne My piteous wordes she did condemne with fell And angry lookes for telling her mine ill Infernall greefe and to my soule a hell That with such crueltie she should repell Me so bicause I did obey her will She bid me tell her O accursed day If that my torments were for her or no And if I lou'd her so as I did say She did commaund Alas I did obay Why angry then if she will haue it so Weepe eies of earth O weepe and weepe no more My miserie and
whether it doth tend Eies of my soule behold and then deplore My wretched state what I was once before And what I am and what must be my end O wofull life O poore afflicted hart Tell me poore soule how canst thou not but faile In Passions of such torments paine and smart With such a thought how dost thou not depart And perish when no succour can preuaile O haplesse louer wretched and forgot Though happy once and happy but of late To day thou diest but yet thy loue cannot To day thy greefes begin their gordian knot To day thy ioy doth end and happy state To day thy woes and sorrowes doe appeere To day thy sadnes and thy paines are knowen To day thy sweete content doth finish heere To day thy dismall death approcheth neere To day thy firmest loue and faith is knowen What doe you now mine eies what doe you rest Let out your flouds whose streames in greefe doe swell For it may be you may within my brest Quench out this burning flame or at the lest Coole this great heate that burnes like Mongibelle But woe is me I striue but all in vaine Against the streame For golden Tagus streames Nor Duerus floud nor Iberus againe Can quench this heate or mitigate the paine How then my teares Alas these are but dreames And in such sort bicause it doth hoffend My hart that burnes like to the smithie flame For it doth more increase and doth extend And more it doth with sparkling flames incend The more that water 's cast vpon the same And now since want of hedgrow faileth me And that I feele increase not want of paine I thinke it best for me to goe and see If I can finde some other hedge or tree To write that there which this cannot containe With the taste of this sorrowfull song I will now leaue of which me thinkes is of great substaunce whether the affection I beare the Shepherde that wrote it makes me thinke so for by the wordes thereof you may vnderstand it was written by Delicius or that then the reading and now the recitall of it whereby the miserable estate of the poore youth was then and now represented vnto me doth make me iudge it to be no lesse I know not Assuring you that then for a little I woulde not haue made an ende to read it out though I had sought it in euery place if the teares which fell so fast from mine eies to see the greefe of so faire and vnfortunate a yoong Shepherd had not let me Tell me no such thing saide Lord Felix for if I thought thou hadst not as well read the other which he saide he went to write in another tree I would intreat thee to recite this once againe but we shall haue time enough if it please the Gods to heare out the rest But what will you say said Crimine if I should tell you that we neuer remembred to seeke out the other Therein I beleeue thee not answered Lord Felix for so smal care should not me thinks befall in women of so great respect and in thee especially who didst loue him with such tender care and affection Not to deceiue thee therefore nor thy imagination saide Crimine know Lord Felix that we sought and found it out O how hast thou reioiced my hart saide Felismena but take heede heereafter Crimine what thou sayest and if wee shall continue friendes I praie thee mocke vs no more in this sort for thou hadst not a little troubled my minde by making mee beleeue that thou hadst not sought it out But state yet saide Doria for I am not of your opinion that she shoulde recite this other song so soone as you woulde haue her Why saide Lord Felix Bicause I woulde first knowe saide Doria if it be such an one as the last for if it be not she did well to leaue of her tale at such a point for it is not the condition of my palate to remaine with an ill taste when it hath once a good one Verie true said Felismena What answerest thou therefore Crimine to this I haue not perhaps the same taste said I that she hath so that it may be that what is sweete to her may seeme bitter to me or contrarie for in tastes there is no small difference But for my selfe I can say that the rest to come pleaseth me no lesse then that which is past Then by this reason said Lord Felix thou maist tel it which I beleeue thou wilt not otherwise choose to do with the condition that Doria alleaged vnto thee Since you haue faire Ladies saide Polydora staide your selues more then I would in questions and answers I will also propound mine Of which I dare lay a wager you will confesse that one of them wil seeme better to you then all the rest And for this I wil not cal any other to be iudges but your selues and in faith not to appeale in any time from the sentence giuen Thou takest much vpon thee said Felismena and more leauing it in the arbitrement of these that be contrarie to thee Nay rather little said Polydora for I know well that for your credits you dare not but pronounce it in my fauour Tell it then to trie said Lord Felix You all take vpon you said Polydora not meanely to be in loue and praysing not without good cause the song and hauing heard Crimine confesse that she could not make an end to read it for pitie she had of Delicius what is the reason that you haue not asked any thing what he did or what Stela felt or what impression it made in her These are questions more woorthe the asking of louers then to bee so precise in demaunding if it were written or not and if shee sawe the other or not It would haue greeued mee being no louer if she had not beene condolent for him who was put in such anxieties and you that affirme it to be so seeme not to be sorrowfull for this passion whereby it seemes you haue no desire to helpe him with so much as a worde Polydora gaue them all great delight with her friendly anger which shee shewed in iest of whom there was not anie that thought not but that she was in good earnest if in the ende she had not laughed Then all with one voice saide that the verdict should passe on her side Euery one holding their peace to see what Crimine would answer to it she began thus to saie Thou hast so highly considered the matter Polydora that if thy demand had come ioyntly with the quesions of these Gentlemen I would to haue satisfied thine with pardon be it spoken haue left theirs vnanswered And truely if loue had not required of Stela a narrow account of the hardnes of her hart then thine also had beene without an answer bicause I thinke you would not giue any credite to my speeches not seeming a possible thing that where all vertues are laid vp pitie
wretch some pitie now to haue I which doe scorne the furious thunder blowe Of Iupiter and other Gods despise Thee Stela for my Goddesse I doe knowe And come to thee with humble weeping eies More then his bolts thy anger makes afraid And pearcing eies my senses haue dismaid Thou dost deserue more honour praise and loue Then Iupiter or all the Gods aboue It would not halfe so much haue greeu'd my hart That thou my loue so strongly didst denie Being so faire and such one as thou art If as from me from others thou didst flie But since Delicius wherein thou dost erre Before stout Gorphorost thou dost preferre His small imbracements and too far vnmeete Thou louest more then mine so great and sweete But let him swim in seas of his delight And with thy fauours let him now preuaile If time and place be graunted to my might Soone will I make him strike his puffed saile Soone shall he feele my strong and sine wed arme And how it will his amorous senses charme O greefe that time and place doe not affoord To make my deede as currant as my word If with my handes his tender trembling flesh I will dishiuer and in mammocks teare And then his bones in peeces I will thresh And in the forrest cast them heere and there And dye the riuers with his blood I will And throwe his members from this steepie hill Into thy lap where laughing I will stand To see if there he ioyneth hand in hand O woe is me that thus tormenting greefe And wrath doth make my toong to goe awrie O thoughts that feele no hope nor hope releefe In Aetnas flames I liue I burne I die I burne O greefe and die thou wilt not end To succour me that am thy louing friend If thus thou handlest those that languish for thee How wilt thou those intreate that doe abhor thee Gorphorost hauing cast these vaine complaints into the aire rose vp and like a mad Bull from whom the yoong heyfer hath beene taken away vnable to take rest in any place with monstrous skips went downe the hill along into the Iland whose pastorall song pleased vs well and the gifts he offered to bring me to his loue and especially how he made himselfe so faire if he had not concluded it with so cruell menaces Stay a little if thou louest me saide Syrenus for I cannot but note one thing in this song which hath pleased me woonderfull well And what is it said Seluagia that makes thee interrupt so pleasant a discourse as this I will tell you said Syrenus and promise you it will not please you all for it inueighed delicately against women How so said Felismena I will tell you answered Syrenus For in how many comparisons he fitly made of white and red gracious and fine he neuer made any exception thinking thereby he greatly honored Stela and that she was glad to be compared to those things but when he said she was faire he spake that with a certaine kind of reuerence and pardon saying And if thou dost not disdaine it more faire then a tilled orchard wherein he thought he offended her bicause in onely being faire he iudged that women with their wils would admit no equalitie nor comparisons But let them iest with you in what they will else beautie must be a religion not timorously touched And now passe on faire Stela in thy narration Euerie one laughed at Syrenus words and Lord Felix said It seemes well Shepherd thou art free since of thy selfe thou takest leaue to say what it pleaseth thee To take this strife from you said stela I will tell on Parthenius being afraide as well for the resolute furie wherewith hee made his threats as also for that which he saide to him the same morning not knowing what to do nor how to inuent a remedie in such an exigent oftentimes busied his wits to seeke out some one or other But casting many doubts in such affaires and thinking with himselfe what remedie he might finde out for Delicius auaile not respecting what might befall to him hee resolued to doe that which you shall nowe heare Staying on a night as he was woont for Gorphorost and being passed to the other side of the riuer with a merrie and smiling countenance contrarie to the meaning of his minde he saide thus vnto him As I haue beene carefull about thy affaires so knowe friend Gorphorost that I haue perswaded thy Corriuall to leaue of his loue to Stela the which not able to compasse I haue obtained thus much of him to sweare to mee to forsake this countrey and to absent himselfe from her Whereupon hee onely requesteth but eight daies respite for his departure the which he praied me in his name to craue of thee So that thou maiest now well giue me thy Sheepehooke for heere will I staie alone with thee in these parts and in thy companie Gorphorost being very glad to heare these newes that Parthenius brought him thinking that if Delicius were gone out of the way he might the better obtaine his purpose and my loue went by and by for the sheepehooke and hauing brought it gaue it him Then Parthenius said Behold Gorphorost since it is thy will to haue him depart and me to staie thou shalt sweare to mee to doe me no harme in the world bicause thou maist vnderstand that it is I I haue requested the sheep-hook of thee the which thou shalt continually see me carrie about with me and if thou pretendest any other matter not obseruing the lawes of holy friendship vnfold to me thy inward thoughts and I will also depart my selfe O goe not hence my Parthenius answered Gorphorost for I swear to thee by Stela mine only Goddesse that now nor at any time hereafter thou shalt haue no hurt at my hands nor by my procurement Parthenius satisfied with this agreement oath went to put that in practise which he had purposed in his minde before you shall hereafter see what his intent was hereby but when he found not Crimine nor me with Delicius bicause we were now gone from him he kept it till another day when we were altogither But as we failed not at our accustomed howers Parthenius brought forth the sheepe-hooke which Gorphorost gaue him the verie same that now Delicius hath and which you did but lately see at the fountaine of the Laurell trees and saide Before I make manifest my determination vnto you I will first haue you see what a faire gift Gorphorost hath giuen me though his intent was far different from mine But bicause with the rest you shal also heare this looke vpon it wel tel me your opinions then I will tell you more Then we three comming neere togither bicause he had viewed it well before looked vpon it verie earnestly euerie one of vs casting our eies vpon that which pleased vs most We would not haue left looking once and twise againe vpon the curious sheepe-hooke
knowe is not vaine The God Hymen not beeing hatefull to mee I coulde perhappes submit my selfe to this onely fault But I beseech the Gods the earth may first swallowe mee vp and Iupiter with his thunderbolt smite me to the mournfull shades of Acheron and perpetuall night before I violate thee O chastitie or breake thy holy bondes The chaste minde that euer I haue borne shall accompanie me to my graue But I know it offends me not by thinking to which of both I shoulde encline if my firme intent should turn to any side which of them both excels the other in disposition feature and beautie to loue the one more for that and forsake the other for this I cannot discerne who are so like that if they themselues beheld one another they could not knowe the one from the other Great is the goodnes of Parthenius for euen to the hazard of his life he offered it for safetie of his friend What wittie and readie answeres for Delicius What wisedome to make my companion helpe his and me not to forsake him and that fierce Gorphorost might not hurt him Parthenius in the end deserued well my loue but yet I thinke he goes not beyond Delicius who needed not the fauour of his brother to helpe him and could no doubt haue done no lesse then he And though he neuer had occasion to shew the sharpnes of his wit his pithie wordes and wittie answeres from the which he was cut off from the very beginning yet how cleerely by all his sweete songs and ditties that he made did he manifest it What verses did he carue in the tree or rather in my hart how modest by refraining not to offend me to speake of that which concerned him most O God and what great reason haue I then to loue him But who beleeues not that Parthenius if he had also loued me would not haue done as much Alas then for me to whether of them shall I incline Must Delicius be despised bicause he loues me and for desiring so much my loue againe Must I consent that he die bicause he desireth to liue with me Must he be guerdoned with vnworthy death for so high a desert of his great loue O haplesse Delicius I would I had neuer seene thee or thou not cast thine eies vpon me Thou well deseruest my loue if I had not vowed chastitie and if my importunate destinies had not threatened me with marriage But must Parthenius be reiected bicause he loues me not as Delicius doth For this he is more woorthie to be admitted into my loue It imports but little that he loue mee not so I loue him that hath so many good parts in him woorthy to be beloued That which most of all forceth me to his loue is that I cannot suffer with patience that Crimine should loue him But whither do I range in these wandring thoughts what need I take such care for them after so many whom I haue despised Why doe I thus torment my selfe Their beautie mooues me not and yet the same might well do it who are but yet boies They themselues mooue me not but their yong and flourishing youth But let them go hence in a good hower now that of mine owne free will I haue counselled them and the rather since marriage is denied mee Let them go and seeke forth some other loues since none that are wise will reiect them But alas for me this leaue is too harde With these last words not able to passe on further though many other things remained still in my minde I held my peace my toong was silent but my hart did still speake And with these and like wordes and praises poore soule without knowing what I did and rude in such affaires I loued without the sence of loue I conceiued the fire without seeing it and nourished a wound in my vaines without feeling it Three or fower daies passed in the which we went not to the Shepherds bicause Crimine came not foorth for seeing herselfe disdained of Parthenius she endeuoured to forget him by her absence which kindled her fire the more So that I would haue beene now glad that Parthenius had loued Crimine in lieu of seeing him and Delicius For the which I many times importuned her that we might go see them by putting her in mind of the hope that Delicius had giuen her but for all this she forced herselfe not to come before him There remained now but two daies to come of the time prefixed for Parthenius departure when not able to endure so long an absence I spake thus vnto her It might not a little reioice me deere sister if we went to see the Shepherds bicause I promised to speake with Parthenius before he went Crimine desiring the same no lesse then I as I imagined answered me saying Thou maiest go good friend although I will not denie that I desire to see mine enimie But this haplesse loue is so cruell that I cannot choose in the end but tell thee the truth that my going this time will auaile me as little I know as other times before Behold thou canst not tell Crimine saide I what Delicius hath done for thee in recompence of the good turne he owes thee for the promise he made thee and if this were not so remember that certaine daies past my selfe hauing lesse occasion and will to go yet onely to content thee I went thither So that thou art bounde now to performe my request when I was then so willing to do thy command Thou hast ouercommed saide she I will nor cannot gainsay thy forcible reasons Whereupon we went to the Shepherds whom when I espied gone aside for on purpose they were talking very earnestly togither I saide to my companion They should now talke of some great matters and it may bee Delicius is talking about thy affaires Nay about thine answered she againe And it was true indeed For both of them were in counsell togither as afterwards we knew it Being come to the Shepherds we found such an alteration in them that it seemed very strange to vs. What will you more but that Delicius seemed to haue changed the loue that he did beare me to bestow it on Crimine when he had greatest reason to loue me Who at the last time when I spake to him got more of me then euer he did before I coulde not by any meanes know the cause of this sudden change Truth it is that as I had perceiued Delicius loue to Crimine to be but colde as that I also held him for such an one who would not change without great occasion and not able to coniecture it by any fault of mine owne I haue suspected and Crimine thinkes no lesse but that Delicius by some waies should know of Parthenius secret loue to me and by sayning that he had forgot mee it was to giue place to his deere friend in my loue Which if it be so as we beleeue
vpon his bodie it can do no harme but he that in high and loftie houses lodgeth though the thunderclap smite him not may be killed or wounded with the stones timber or some other thing that may fall from thence And may also be burned or choaked with the smoke of the fire that is kindled in the wood all which by experience haue beene often seene But bicause of good will you inuite me to do that which you request me I will go in although I was determined to lay me downe and sleepe if I had found out some fit place for the purpose bicause the thunderclap spareth those they say that are asleepe Thou wilt liue too long said Seluagia since with so many defences thou dost arme thy self Heereof thou maiest be ascertained said the Shepherd for there is not any who desires his life and health more then I do So me thinkes said Seluagia and the cause of it must be that thou art not in loue Naie rather the contrarie said the Shepherd which my song did euen now speake of Dost thou loue then saide Seluagia I loue said he with the greatest blisse and ioy as thou hast euer heard of Not onely heard but seene said Seluegia For they are before thee And this do I say said he And I that said she Leaue of these speeches said Lord Felix and let vs go in And do vs so much pleasure good Shepherd to tell vs by the way if thou beest in loue I am said he Are these loues thine own said Lord Felix They are mine said he none others I say not so said Lord Felix but if they be properly of thee thy selfe I haue not so many good parts said the Shepherd to be enamoured of my selfe and yet there is not any I thinke that loues me as much as I do my selfe But leauing this aside I loue as much as possiblie I may a most faire yoong Shepherdesse Thy loue is not perfect said Lord Felix bicause thou saiest there is none whom thou louest as much as thy selfe Why doth this hinder it said the Shepherd that it is not perfect Why not said Lord Felix Then by this I vnderstand said the Shepherd that there is none that loues in this degree But rather beleeue the contrarie saide Lord Felix for heere thou seest some who woulde gladly hazard their heades for them whom they loue This is an easie thing saide the Shepherd to saie it And easier said Lord Felix to do it I promise you sir saide the Shepherd if death knocked at your dore and if it were in your election to go with it your selfe or to sende your loue that it might be seene what I say But rather that which I affirme saide Lord Felix I thinke it a hard matter saide the Shepherd With these demands and answers they came to the Temple where they rested themselues and feasted that new guest who was well entertained of the sage Felicia bicause she knew him woorthie of it After they had made an end of their great dinner all of them requested him to sing the song that he came singing when he left it off at their sight He saide he was well content and glad if they woulde lende an eare vnto it not for his voice which was not woorth it but for the matter which deserued any good whatsoeuer But requesting that some instrument might play to him bicause his song might be the better set foorth Doria by Felicias command tooke a Harpe and tuning it to the highest note that he would sing the rest being all attentiue to him he began thus LOuers record my memorie and name For one that is more happie then the rest And solemnize my conquest and my fame which I haue got in being onely blest Extoll my glorie to the loftie sunne Which with this famous triumph I haue wonne To be the happiest man that hath beene borne Of all that haue to loue allegeance sworne What louer yet was found vnto this howre Though in his loue most fauour'd he had beene Of greefe that had not tasted yet some sowre And had not felt some paine and sorrowes seene Or who hath with such sweete his loue endured Though of his Mistresse he were most assured And though she loued him with truest hart That felt not yet a little iealous smart Amongst all these I onely am exempted From sorrowes troubles from mishaps and paines With both handes full I liue in ioies contented And more if I did tell yet more remaines Secure I am that in my happy brest Vile iealousie shall neuer build her nest And that I may with greefe be neuer paid A strong and firme foundation I haue laid Nothing in all the world shall breake this chaine If cruell death doth spare me with her dart And yet if loue in sepulcher remaine Death shall not there dissolue it in my hart See then how that most strong it needes must be Since to my will I wrought the same in me And for you may not say that I doe mooue it With blazons harke with reasons I will prooue i Who to himselfe could be so inhumane Vnlesse he were depriued of his wit That swimming in a pleasant Ocean Of ioies would wish for greefe not finding it Such ioies I taste as neuer more I could My loue admits no sadnes though I would For yet admit that I would now procure it My loue is such that it will not endure it I haue good fortune at mine owne commaund Since I haue fauours at mine owne free will My loue to her her loue to me is pawn'd Which fortunes spite and time shall neuer spill But now if ought with greefe my minde may mooue It is to haue Corriuals in my loue But they my ioy and glorie doe augment For more they are the more is my content If any care for these Corriuals dooe These faithfull louers in my brest remaine Then see how that with earnest suites I wooe And seeke them for my Shepherdesse againe And truly if it lay within my power A thousand I would send her euery hower But since I am so rude and but a clowne I cannot set her golden praises downe If that with all the faire one should resort Shewing her vertues and each goodly grace Little should then my homely praise import Hauing the world at her commaund and trace For saying naught her praise she better would Her selfe disclose though I said all I could And how much more since I want skill and art Of her to blazon foorth the meanest part But now behold how far from that aboue I haue estraied my promise and intent My promise was with reasons now to prooue That crosse nor care my ioies could not preuent I know not if by rashnes or aduice It was my thought that did my toong entice For when I thinke to praise my Shepherdesse Then straight my toong doth in her fauour presse It takes no heede and hath but small remorce To whom what where how oft why
how and when Her praises be nor of her little force Nor vertues of this fairest one But then All in a heate her praise begins to babble And I to stay such furie far vnable For thousand times I sharply chide the same But more I chide the more it is to blame Counsell I giue it and with counsell threate That neuer it presume to meddle heere By telling it it is too base a seate For her high praise that neuer had her peere But shamelesse it replies let this not greeue thee And boldly saies T' is true I doe beleeue thee For I confesse I neuer did suffice But such a want I hope my will supplies As to a foole seeing her follies such Sometimes I yeeld at length to leaue the raine If then my Nymph so basely it doth touch It doth deserue no punishment nor paine For howsoere she praise her In the end I feare not that my loue it will offend But to returne fro whence my toong did run Breefly I will conclude what I begun Another Cupid raignes within my brest Then Venus sonne that blinde and franticke boy Diuers his works intent and interest His fashions sportes his pleasure and his ioy No slightes deceites nor woes he doth inspire He burnes not like to that vnseemely fire From reason will my loue cannot entice Since that it is not placed in this vice For beautie I loue not my Shepherdesse Although she may be lou'd for passing faire Beautie in her the lest part doth possesse Though hers doth make all others to despaire For mildnes wisedome and for vertues sake This zealous loue I first did vndertake And so my loue is honest chaste and sure Not wanton fleshly filthie nor vnpure I wish my flockes greene grasse may neuer finde Nor cleerest springs their burning thirst to slake Nor shades enioy in heate nor coolest winde And that they may no profit to me make That March may come with rigour to their harme And sheds and sheltor want to keepe them warme If euer any wicked thought had past My loue but what was honest cleene and chaste The Iuniper oile may neuer helpe my flockes With lothsome mangie being ouerrun Milke faile my sheepe decay my countrie stockes And little kid by hunger be vndone And let my masty lay him downe to sleepe So that the woolfe doth kill him and my sheepe If in my loue I euer had inuention Of wickednes bad thought or bad intention But thinke not that my loue so chaste and pure Without the slaine of vaine and wanton thought And louing so sincerely and so sure From vertue of mine owne proceedeth not Onely from her alone it is proceeding That no foule thought doth suffer to be breeding Dishonest motions in a fleshly soule Her modest sight most brauely doth controule For plainly and not vainly I suspect That if some boldface yonker did bewray His wanton loue or did to her detect His thoughts that did from honestie estray In looking on her onely I durst sweare His wordes would freeze within his mouth for feare And that he could not onely speake for shame But neuer durst againe presume the same If in this song I purposed to touch Her honestie and vertues to explaine I knowe I am not worthy for so much When thousand bookes cannot the same containe And more that once I somewhat sung and saide Before and that my voice was then afraide For being so base Now must it erre as lately Since that her praise is growne more high and stately Then louing as you see with such successe I doe not feare disfauours any whit Musing alone on my faire Shepherdesse Fauours doe come by heapes my minde to fit And so of her I neuer beg nor craue them But in this sort continually I haue them As many as my handes can hold and borrow Wherefore I liue in ioy deuoid of sorrow Louing in this samesort there is no feare Of iealousie that 's either true or fained A riuall heere sweete companie doth beare And all that in chaste loue in one are chained Yet name of Riuall fits not well this place Since chastitie together all imbrace Nor different mindes we can be said to carie Since our intents in no one point doe varie Come then all you that loue come by and by Leaue euery one his Shepherdesse and loue Come loue my Shepherdesse and for her die In that that 's pure and commeth from aboue And you shall see how that your fortunes far It dignifies to loue this radiant star Of vertue and the time you shall auerre Ill spent that is not spent in louing her They could not hold their laughter at the Shepherds admonition to whom Syluanus said By my faith friend Shepherd thou commest too late with thy counsell For to leaue of that which we haue already for this yoong Shepherdesse I thinke there is no remedie And if thou termest this time lost we are not sorie for it a whit I would you were better aduised said the Shepherd but I doe but my dutie It is well said Felicia that you my sonnes are content with your lots and he with his good fortune of one thing I assure you leauing aside your loue bicause we will make no comparisons that this Shepherd loueth and with the greatest reason in the world a soueraigne yoong Shepherdesse endowed with many gifts and perfections the lest whereof in her as he said in his song is peregrine beautie And his loue to her is so infinite and pure as he also said that though he be many times in her presence yet neuer any wanton thought turned his minde awrie Which in truth proceedes from her excellent and singular vertue And so no man I thinke hath gone beyonde him in purer loue then he as by his song you might well perceiue With what greater purity said Syrenus could any Shepherd loue his Shepherdesse then I did Diana Indeede it was very great said Felicia but in the ende thou didst presume to tell her of thy loue It is true said Syrenus why then behold said Felicia how far the loue of this yoong Shepherde extendes that he durst neuer manifest this sound and perfect affection to his Shepherdesse thinking by doing so he should greatly offend her honour Then let him tell vs said Lord Felix if thou thinkest it good reuerend Ladie some part of his chaste loues which thou commendest so much bicause we may passe away with something this gloomie euening To this the Shepherd answered It would content me greatly to spend this cloudie euening in so ioyfull a discourse if I were able to end it But now in my song if you be remembred I told you that I had another time sung of her and that for her great perfections and desertes I came very short of her due praise Being therefore somwhat afraid I am determined to hold my peace the rather bicause I haue no longer time to stay for I am going to seeke out a pretie fawne which my
thou purpose to destroy me When wilt thou make an end with woundes to noy me Not stretching foorth thy cruell hand to kill me Tell me the cause why dost thou so much will me To visit thee and with such words dost ioy me That to my death I rather would imploy me Then by such present pangs and greefes to spill me Woe to my soule since this doth cause thy sorrow That such a little fauour thou hast done me Little it is in sooth if it be peased With all my teares that neuer yet haue ceased To fall that to my death haue almost woon me They great this small those giue I this I borrow Firmius had scarce done when Faustus asked Diana how she knew that his loue to her was so small Who answered In that hoping to enioy thee inflamed in my loue thou complainest no purpose of a few teares thou hast spilt for my sake as if these were not as incident and requisite for loue as pasture for sheepe and oyle for the lamp To which wordes Faustus taking vp his Rebecke did thus answere her THou dost desire My life as thou dost say To see me in thy loues inflam'd at lest And yet an vncouth meanes thou dost suggest Which is to giue me care from day to day Dost thou not see the fier to decay Waxe cold and quench't within my louing brest With swelling teares which trickle without rest Out of mine eies to see thy hard delay The meade with raine her goodly greene redeemes The oile doth in the lampe the flame maintaine And loue with teares augmented is no lesse But loue the lampe and meadow as it seemes If that too much of these they doe containe Is spent is quench't and drowned in excesse As Faustus had thus made an ende Firmius said for all that I coulde not then heare he tolde me afterwards we are well content Diana that thou delightest thy selfe with our sorrowes since thou wilt take no pleasure in any of our other things if thy sweete voice in lieu of that might sound in our desired eares with some happie song Diana excused herselfe requesting them to pardon her saying she coulde not therein pleasure them since she wanted so much her owne content of minde They endeuouring to comfort her gaue her some hope saying that in the end sorrowes and griefes are not perpetuall and that she should remember that common song that saith Continuall griefe and sorrow neuer wanteth c. Bicause therefore you may see said Diana how ill this saying is vnderstoode tune your Bagpipe with your Rebecke and walking towards our flockes bicause it is now time to gather them vp although I thought not to doe it yet will I sing as well as I can vpon this theame and you shall take the tune of the song as of a woman so much tuned in miseries and mishappes as nothing more Firmius and Faustus made no delay And then Diana like a desperate woman with a mournsull and sorrowfull voice began thus taking for her first verse that which they had alreadie alleaged for her comfort COntinuall greefe and sorrow neuer wanteth Where feeding hope continues not decaying But euermore despaire that greefe recanteth From former course of minde doth cause estraying The glosse Riuers arise and run into the seas And waters without number day by day And yet the same seeme neuer to decay But new doe spring and run and doe increase So endlesse woes arise and multiplie Redoubled one vpon anothers head For one in truth is with another fed Still doe they come and yet they neuer die For since their fertill rootes each moment planteth Continuall greefe and sorrow neuer wanteth Torments of minde and vilest miseries Are sworne to dwell within a haplesse soule And there her ioies and pleasures doe controule As to my selfe my sweete content denies Then let not any Louer thinke to gaine The meanest thing that liues in any hope But liuing so to fall into a scope And wander in a world of greefe and paine For miseries men say continue staying Where feeding hope continue not decaying Who knowes it not Alas I knowe it well That if a wofull soule is hoping still She seldome doth enioy her mind and will But that her hope must euer be her hell So of this hope that flatters me I finde And doe confesse that with the same I liue But still in feare and therefore I would giue It for despaire to ease my doubtfull minde I wish not this false hope my iotes that scanteth But euermore despaire that greefe recanteth If any whit of goodnes euer came By vile despaire it comes to me in prime And it could neuer come in better time Then to be hoping still to haue the same The wisest and most prudent man at last Wanting the good that long he doth attend Which nourished by hope he did suspend Seeing the time that fed his hope is past And all his ioy by hope that is decaying From former course of minde doth cause estraying The Shepherds importuned Diana to proceed in her song or else if it pleased her to take some new matter for it was to be thought that Dianas song pleased them wel but they could not obtaine it at her hands for she rather requested them to sing something whilest they were going towardes their flockes Firmius then remembring that which a little before she had told him that he loued her not so much as he might began thus to tune his voice Faire Shepherdesse Iean no more But faine I would Loue thee more if that I could As this made also for Faustus purpose for the same cause he likewise sung to the same effect And so Firmius and Faustus sung by turnes and answered one another as followeth Firmius OF mine owne selfe I doe complaine And not for louing thee so much But that indeede my power is such That my true loue it doth restraine And onely this doth giue me paine For faine I would Loue her more if that I could Faustus Thou dost deserue who doth not see To be belou'd a great deale more But yet thou shalt not finde such store Of loue in others as in mee For all I haue I giue to thee Yet faine I would Loue thee more if that I could Firmius O trie no other Shepherd swaine And care not other loues to prooue Who though they giue thee all their loue Thou canst not such as mine obtaine And would'st thou haue in loue more gaine O yet I would Loue thee more if that I could Faustus Impossible it is my friend That any one should me excell In loue whose loue I will refell If that with me he will contend My loue no equall hath nor end And yet I would Loue her more if that I could Firmius Behold how loue my soule hath charm'd Since first thy beauties I did see Which is but little yet to mee My freest senses I haue harm'd To loue thee leauing them vnarm'd And yet I would Loue thee more if
no wight deserues to knowe For into seas infinite With small barke it were to goe And that labyrinth sans light Wherein Theseus they did throwe I not hauing in this plight Threed as he his guide from woe I will onely sing and write How in happines I flowe That thy seruant I doe hight Praising Fortune and Loues bowe Thanking him that so did smite She bicause she was not slowe In her throne my paines to quite Loue for like a friendly foe Wounding thee with golden flight And for shooting many moe Into my soule whose paines shal seeme but slight If with thy grace their woūds thou wilt requite Sagastes would haue the dittie make mention of this last point bicause as Marthea gaue him to vnderstand no lesse so he beleeued not any thing to the contrarie This song being ended he began to doe that he promised which was to praise God Cupid and Fortune with so great delight of the hearers as the end of the first had taken it away from them But their beginning as it was told me was not without the vnpleasant iarring of their discording instruments I beleeue it well said Lord Felix that this discord was not any whit pleasant to them there when the recitall thereof heere is displeasant to mine eares and therefore I pray thee without any more circumstances tell vs what was sung besides for I doe greatly desire to heare how he praised Fortune an apter subiect of blame then fit to be praised If it be your pleasures said Placindus giue eare to my words and note the meaning of it for this is the song HE that doth Fortune blame And of God Cupid speaketh ill Full little knowes he that his will Is subiect to the same And that he doth procure his proper shame Held for a foole and one of simple skill Who speakes he knowes not what Is thought to be a very Sot For good of them who speaketh not And I suspect that that Same simple one doth lay a formall plat To be reputed for an Idiot He knowes not Fortunes might Nor knowes the mightie God of Loue She rules beneath and he aboue For she doth sit by right Amongst the Goddesses with shining light And he amongst the Gods his might doth prooue The Boy I will omit Since that his great and mighty name Giues him great praise and woorthy fame Being who knowes not it The God of Loue whose praise I will forgit To sing of Fortune that most noble dame The foole on Fortune railes Bicause she neuer doth repose The first and highest sphere and those Adioyning neuer failes In that which all the world so much auailes I meane in motions which they neuer lose In their perpetuall course Their essence and foundation lies And in their motions neuer dies Our life from them their source Doth take and vnto death should haue recourse And cease if they should cease to mooue the skies They vse to paint her blinde Bicause the highest and the lowe She reares and after downe doth throwe Respecting not the kinde Of persons nor the merits of the minde The King she doth not from the Collier knowe Fortune heerein they take For agreat Goddesse and with right For Goddesses doe not requite With partiall hand and makes No difference of persons for their sakes And partially doe neuer vse their might They call her also mad Bicause her works they doe not knowe Nor any path where she doth goe But all her waies so bad That to exempt themselues they would be glad From them for feare of their ensuing woe But such are made indeede That make a reason so vnfit For when did euer humane wit Knowe what the Gods decreed Or how they meant with power to proceede Or their intents which men could neuer hit t fitteth not my song o deigne to answere with direction en of such wit and small perfection hat offer her such wrong For Fortune doth onely to those belong That haue the vse of reason and election The Ancient otherwise Did thinke for they did make of her A Goddesse and they did not erre To whom sweete sacrifice And temples in her name they did deuise As in their bookes they doe no lesse auerre When this song in the praise of Fortune was ended then in dispraise of time for now as I tolde you the answere of his marriage was deferred for one moneth and euery short hower seemed a long yeere vnto him he sung this Sonnet But I will goe on with my discourse and will not tell it you bicause I shall but trouble you I thinke with recitall of it as it hath done me by seeing it so imperfect and not ended In faith thou art too extreme in thy opinions said Lord Felix and though I had diuers occasions offered me to aske thee many questions yet I haue held my peace vnto the end bicause thou mightest proceede without interruption and it seemes of purpose thou seekest many digressions to depriue vs of that wherein we take no small delight Then doe vs so great a pleasure as to tell vs the song that was begun and why it was not ended and heere we will endeuour if we can to supplie the wants of it Since you offer me so faire said Placindus I will tell it you but I thinke it will be somewhat hard for you Then lend a patient eare to the vnhappie Sonnet which I thinke will not please you so well ALl you that haue vnwoorthily complained Of Loue and Fortune each a mighty powre On Time that doth your sweete contents deuowre Turne them For more heereby is to be gained For time is false For if content vnfained It giueth thee it passeth in an howre But still it staies if it begins to lowre It comes not wisht for nor doth stay obtained Time hath no friend in any thing created For euery thing it wasteth and consumeth And doth not spare so much as any body c. The Boy was yet redoubling the foote of the last verse when Beldanisus who serued Marthea came suddenly vpon Sagastes and marred all the musicke hauing left his brother and three of his cosins in reareward to helpe him if any came foorth in Sagastes defence Disteus that now c. Stay a little said Lord Felix for it shall not be amisse with leau of this good company that I cut off the thread of this discourse when as so often it hath beene broken off And before I forget it declare vnto me but halfe of one of those verses aboue that begins thus It fittteth not my song c. The meaning whereof I doe not vnderstand no more then the words To answer your demaund Lord Felix said Placindus it is requisite I had beene brought vp in the Academies of the Grecian Philosophers and as it is in prouerbe in the Peripateticke schooles But since you will so faine knowe the exposition of it I will shew it you written with his owne hand that made the verses who at my request did it
a little greeue you to see Syrenus matched with such dangerous corriuals as these two Shepherds are Syluanus and Seluagia though Delius death did a little greeue them forgot not most humbly to thanke Felicia not onely for her good will and friendlie aduise but also for the approoued affection and desire she had to helpe their beloued friend Syrenus And thereupon said vnto her We cannot but obey your command good Lady although we would be faine heere when Coryneus and his companie comes Well well answered Felicia this Shepherd is not so nigh nor cannot come back so soon nor you so far off but that you may be certified when they are to come Since it is then so said Lord Felix with your leaue good Lady I will take Felismena with me and accompanie these Shepherds in whose amorous strife and riualitie which you but euen nowe spake of I shall take no small pleasure and delight The same affirmed Martandrus Placindus Danteus and Duarda with one voice If it please you so said Felicia on Gods name let it be but it behooues you Gentlemen and thee faire Felismena no lesse least the bashfull Shepherds estrange themselues from your companie to borrowe for a while their pastorall habite and condition the which being no sooner agreed vpon but put in practise they went to Syluanus charging him to carie all in remembrance that passed betweene the corriuals the better to report it afterwards when they should meete all togither Whosoeuer therefore is desirous to see the funerall of Delius the riualitie of Syrenus Firmius and Faustus and be at all their meetings and takes any pleasure to know who Stela is and woulde faine knowe what her troubles and those of Crimine Delicius and Parthenius haue beene and to what ende they came as also the loue of Agenestor prince of Eolia and of Lustea daughter to Disteus and Dardanea let him attende me in the third part of this worke which shall come to light out of hande La vita il fin e'l di loda la sora THE FIRST PART OF ENAMOVRED DIANA made by Gaspar Gil Polo To the most noble and vertuous Lady Don̄a Maria de Austria y fuentes IF you were my singular good Lady that heauenly muse and diuine fire from whence this little creature hath borrowed life and light being most happie that it was borne vnder such a constellation whose beames and influence haue guided and indued it with those perfections which now it presumeth by vertues thereof to possesse Reason and dutie then it were to offer vp vnto your woorthines all the seruice it may and humbly to craue of the same That since now it commeth abroad to euery ones view it may in the forhead carie the imprinted golden character and warrant of your noble and renowned name wherewith being protected it feareth not any malignant spirit that may bite it And little though this be which my zealous and dutifull affection which I haue euer borne to you and your honorable house from whence many gallant personages and rare and learned wits haue sprung out can present to such great bountie and vertue the which nature hauing placed in a most beautifull and christalline figure in euery part spread foorth their beames with loue and admiration Yet respecting the minde of him that offers it and the good will wherewith like bookes haue beene receiued by Kings and great Lordes I hope faire Lady you will not condemne me of too much presumption by dedicating this vnto your high patrocinie when as the affiance which I haue in your gentle Graces noble minde and sweete perfections inforceth me heereunto the which duly to be recommended and recounted require a finer wit and fitter place Which if at any time heereafter my happy fortune shall grant me in nothing else so iustly it shal be imploied then in the deserued praise and seruice of your Ladiship whose illustrous person and house our Lord defend and prosper many yeeres with increase of all happinesse From VALENCIA the ninth of Februarie 1564. The first Booke of Enamoured DIANA AFter that appassionate Syrenus by the vertue of the mightie liquor which sage Felicia had giuen him was now deliuered out of Cupids handes Loue working after his accustomed maner wounded anewe the hart of carelesse Diana reuiuing in her brest forgotten loues bicause she should be captiue to one that was free and liue tormented for the loue of one who from the same was most exempted her greefe being thereby the more augmented when it occurred to her thoughts that the small regard that in times past she had of Syrenus was now an occasion of his forgetfulnes of that great contempt that he did beare her She was not only with these griefs but with many more so fiercely assaulted that neither the holy bonde of matrimonie nor the reynes of seemely shame and modestie were able to staie or mitigate the furie of her immoderate loue nor remedie the sharpnes of her cruell torments vntill with lamentable complaints and pitifull teares she mollified the hardest rockes and sauage beasts Wherefore being by chance on a sommers day at the fountaine of the Sicamours about that time when the Sunne was eleuated to the Meridian point and there calling to minde the great content that in that very place she had many times receiued of her beloued Syrenus and counting her passed delights with her present greefes and knowing that the beginning of her sorrowes and the fault was onely in herselfe she conceiued thereof such greefe and anguish of minde and was with such dangerous affrightes sursaulted that euen then she thought desired death would haue made an end of all her troubles But after she had recouered some small vigour yet the force of her passion the violence wherewith loue reigned in her brest was neuerthelesse so great that it compelled her to publish her torments to the simple birdes which from the greene boughes were listening to her and to the branchie trees that seemed to take compassion of her greefe and to the cleere fountaine that with the solemne murmur of the Christalline waters accorded with the notes of her dolefull song And so to the sound of a sweete Baggepipe which commonly she caried about her she began to sing these verses following LOng haue I felt a silent paine of sorrow Cruell by that my senses it importunes To such extremes that I am forc't to borrow This last releefe against my heauie fortunes To publish them vnto the windes that stay them Thorow out the world with pitie to conuay them Then gentle Aire performe this due of pitie Let euery region know my greeuous anguish Breath out my paines and tell in euery citie The life of her that in Loues want doth languish Forgotten of a Shepherd that disdaines her Who once did die euen for like loue that paines her O that this ill death to my vitall powers Hardly maint ain'd amids these cruell fashions Springs of my late obliuion and those howers
stormes and tempests and now am safely arriued in the secure hauen of content and rest And though thy paine be neuer so great yet hath not mine I dare boldly say beene lesse And since for the same I found out a happie remedie banish not hope from thy minde shut not vp thine eies from the truth nor thine eares from the substance of my words Are they words said Diana that shall be spent to remedie my loue whose workes exceed the compasse and helpe of wordes But yet for all this faine would I know thy name and the cause that hath brought thee into our fields the which if thou wilt vouchsafe to tell me shall so greatly comfort me that I will for a while suspend the complaints that I haue begun a thing perhaps which may not a little auaile for the lightning of my griefe My name said the Shepherdesse is Alcida but the rest which thou demandest of me the compassion which I haue of thy voluntarie greefe will not suffer me to declare before thou hast embraced my wholsome remedies though perhaps vnsanerie to thy distempered taste Euery comfort said Diana shall be most gratefull to me that commeth from thy hands which neuerthelesse is not able to roote out the strong loue in my brest nor to remooue it from thence without carying my hart with it burst in a thousand peeces And though it might yet I woulde not liue without bicause I woulde not leaue to loue him who being once forgotten of me tooke so sudden and extreme a reuenge of my vniust crueltie Nay then said Alcida thou giuest me no little hope and confidence of thy recouerie since now thou louest him whom thou hast heeretofore hated hauing learned thereby the pathway to obliuion and acquainted thy will with contempt and the more since betweene these two extremes loue and hate there is a meane which thou must embrace and follow To this Diana replied and said Thy counsell faire Shepherdesse contents me very well but I thinke it not sure enough for my safetie nor the best in common reason for my auaile For if my will were put betweene loue and hate I shoulde sooner yeelde to loue then to hate bicause being neerer to it mightie Cupid with greater force woulde assaile and ouercome me To this Alcida answered Do not honor him so much who deserues it so little calling him mightie who may be so easily ouercommed especially by those that choose out the meane aboue said for therein doth vertue consist and where that is all harts are armed with force and constancie against loue Thou mightest better terme those harts cruell harde vntamed and rebellious said Diana which pretend to repugne their proper nature and to resist the inuincible force of loue And yet when they haue oppugned it as much as they list in the end they haue little cause to bragge of their stoutnes and lesse helpe to defende them with their foolish hardines For the power of loue ouercomes the strongest holdes and makes most way thorow where it is most resisted of whose maruels and memorable deedes my beloued Syrenus did on a day sing in this verie place at that time when his remembrance was so sweete as now most bitter to my soule The which Sonnet and all his other Ditties which he then made and sung I well remember hauing euer a great care not to forget them for certaine causes which perswaded me to register the words and deeds of my deerest Syrenus in perpetuall memory But this which intreats of the mightie force of Loue saith thus THat mighty Loue though blinde of both his eies Doth hit the Center of the wounded hart And though a boy yet Mars he foiles with dart Awaking him where in his net he lies And that his flames doe freeze me in such wise That from my soule a feare doth neuer start Most base and vile yet to the highest part Strengthued by land and sea of heauen it flies That he whom Loue doth wound or prisoner take Liues in his greefes and with his giues content This is his might that many woonder at And that the soule which greatest paine doth shake If that it doth but thinke of Loues torment The feare of such a thought forgetteth that No doubt said Alcida but the forces of loue are well extolled But I would rather haue beleeued Syrenus if after hauing published the furie of Cupids arrowes to be so great and after hauing commended the hardnes of his chaines he had not also found out the meanes to set himselfe at libertie And so I maruell that thou wilt so lightly giue credit to him who makes not his word and deed all one For it is very cleere that the Songs and Sonnets are a kinde of a vaine and superfluous praises whereby louers sell their ils for dangerous things when that so easily of captiues they become free and fall from a burning desire to a secure obliuion And if louers feele passions it proceedeth of their owne will and not of loue which is not but a thing imagined of men a thing neither in heauen nor earth but in his hart that entertaines it whose power if any he haue onely by the default of those he vsurpes who of their owne accord suffer themselues to be ouercommed offering him their harts for tribute and putting their libertie into his hands But bicause Syrenus Sonnet may not so easily passe without an answere giue eare to this which as it seemes was made in countermaund of that and long agoe it is since I heard a Shepherd called Aurelius sing it in the fields of Sebetho and as I remember thus it said LOue is not blinde but I which fondly guide My will to tread the path of amorous paine Loue is no childe but I which all in vaine Hope feare and laugh and weepe on euery side Madnes to say that flames are Cupids pride For my desire his fier doth containe His wings my thoughts most high and soueraine And that vaine hope wherein my ioies abide Loue hath no chaines nor shaftes of such intent To take and wound the whole and freest minde Whose power then we giue him is no more For loue 's a tale that Poets didinuent A dreame of fooles an idoll vaine and blinde See then how blacke a God doe we adore Dost thou therefore thinke Diana that any one endued but with reasonable vnderstanding will trust to things in the ayre as thou dost What reason hast thou so truely to worship a thing so vnruly and false as the supposed God of loue is who is fained by fond and vaine heads followed by dishonest mindes and nourished in the braines of idle wantons These are they who gaue to Loue that name which makes him so famous thorow out all the world For seeing how fonde men for louing well did suffer so many sursaults feares cares iealousies changes and other infinite passions they agreed to seeke out some principall and vniuersall cause from whence as from a fountaine all
much as her life was worth if that Shepherd whom she hated more then death did either finde or had any knowledge of her They promised her so to do though verie sorie for her sudden and hastie departure Alcida as fast as she could hye her recouered a thicke wood not far from the fountaine and fled with such celeritie and feare as if she had beene pursued by some hungrie and cruell Tygre Immediately after the Shepherd wearied with extreme trauell and trouble came to that place which Fortune it seemed condolent for his griefe had offered him and that cleere fountaine and Dianas companie for some lightning of his paine who being faint after his painfull iourney and seeing the Sunne in the pride of his heat the place verie pleasant the trees casting forth coole shades the grasse fresh and greene the fountaine cleere cristalline and Diana passing faire thought good to rest himselfe a while though the earnest care and haste of that he went seeking and the ceaselesse desire he had to finde it gaue his wearied bodie no place of rest nor ease to his afflicted minde The which Diana perceiuing shewed her selfe as courteous towards him as Delius iealous eie who was present would giue her leaue and yet entertained the strange Shepherd with sweete words as well for his owne deserts which she deemed not small as also for that she perceiued him tormented with the like grief that she was The Shepherd cheered vp by Dianas friendly welcome and seemely fauours of a miserable man thought himselfe happie by finding out so good a chaunce But they being thus togither Diana by chaunce casting her eie aside could not see her husband Delius who newly surprised in Alcidas loue when Diana tooke least heed of him and while she was entertaining the newe Shepherd pursued amaine the Shepherdesse that fled away and tooke the verie same way with a strong resolution to follow her euen to the other part of the world Diana not a little perplexed to see her husband wanting so on the sudden called and cried a good while togither on the name of Delius but all in vaine to get an answere from him in the wood or to make him leaue of his fonde pursuite who rather running after her as fast as he could thought at the last to sease vpon his beloued Alcida Whereupon when Diana perceiued that Delius appeared in no place she shewed her selfe a most sorrowfull woman for him and lamented in such pitifull sort that the Shepherd to comfort her said thus vnto her Afflict not thy selfe thus without reason faire Shepherdesse and beleeue not thine owne imaginations so greatly preiudicially to thy rest and quiet for the Shepherd whom thoumissest is not so long since wanting that thou maiest haue anie cause to thinke that he hath forsaken thee Pacifie then thy selfe a little for it may be that when thy backe was turned he hauing some desire to change place secretly got away vnwilling perhaps that we shoulde see him go for seare of staying him being inuited by the coole shades of those greene Sicamours and by the fresh and pleasant winde that is gently blowing them or else perhaps discontended for my comming hither thinking my companie troublesome whereas now without it he may merrily passe the heate of the day away To this answered Diana By these words gracious Shepherd which thy toong hath vttered and forced cheere which thou dissemblest who cannot conceiue the greefe that consumes thy life Thou shewest well that loue is thy torment and art accustomed to deceiue amorous suspicions by vaine imaginations For it is a common tricke of louers to work their thoughts to beleeue false and impossible things bicause they would not credite things that are certaine and true Such comforts gentle Shepherd auaile more to quote out the sorrow of my greefe by thee then to remedie my paine For I know well enough that my husband Delius is fledde after a most faire Shepherdesse who went but euen now from hence and in regarde of the great and feruent loue wherewith he beheld her and sighes which for her sake came smoking from his hart I do verily beleeue knowing moreouer how stedfastly he performes that he imagines or takes in hand that he will not leaue following that Shepherdesse though he thinke to come neuer in my sight againe And that which greeues me most is that I know her disposition to be so rigorous and her hart so great an enimie to Loue that she will not onely shew him no pitic but with great despite contemneth the most soueraigne beautie and greatest deserts that may be At these very wordes the sorrowfull Shepherd thought that a mortall dart pierced his chill hart and therefore saide Vnhappie me most wretched Louer what greater reason haue not these harts not made of stonie flint to be sorrowfull for me when thorow out the worlde I seeke the most cruell and pitilesse Damsell that liues on earth Ah faire Shepherdesse thou hast good cause to be sorrie for thy husband for if she whom he followes be so cruelly conditioned as this then must his life be in great danger By these words Diana cleerely perceiued what his greefe was and that the Shepherdesse that ranne away at his comming was the very same whom in so many parts of the worlde he had sought And so she was indeede for when she began to flie from him she tooke the habite of a Shepherdesse by that meanes not to be knowne nor discourered But for that present time Diana dissembled with the Shepherd and woulde tell him nothing of the matter to keepe her worde and promise which she had giuen Alcida at her departure And also bicause it was now a good while since she was gone and ranne with such haste thorow the thicke wood that it was impossible for him to ouertake her All which if she should tell the Shepherd she thought would serue for nothing else but to adde a fresh wounde to an old sore and to trouble his minde more by giuing him some little hope to attaine to his purpose when by no meanes he was able to obtaine it But bicause she desired to know what he was the summe of his loue and the cause of her hate she said vnto him Comfort thy selfe Shepherd in these thy complaints and of curtesie tell me their cause for to lighten them I would be glad to know who thou art and to heare the successe of thy mishap the report whereof will be no doubt delightfull to thee if thou beest so true a louer as I do take thee He then without much entreatie both of them sitting downe by the cleere fountaine began thus to say My greife is not of such quality that it may be told to al kind of people though the good opinion I haue of thy deserts and wisedome and the confidence which thy vertues and peerelesse beautie do suggest to mee vrge me to lay open before thee the totall summe of my life if so it
teares had melted me like snowe Marcelius is my name who knowes not that And I am hers since first I did her see That now I knowe not who I am nor what My hap shall be or shall become of mee Now did the light begin to giue place to darknes and the countrey villages with their domesticall fires began to smoke apace when the Shepherds being neere to their towne made an ende of their singing Euerie one went to his owne house as men not meanely glad for their passed conuersation but Diana founde no rest at all especially when she remembred that her beloued Syrenus was not in the towne She lodged Marcelius well in Mâ—libeus house cousen to Delius where with great kindnes and their best countrey cheere he was welcommed and after comming home to her owne house she called her husbands and her owne kindred togither and tolde them how Delius had forsaken her at the fountaine of the Sicamours by following a strange Shepherdesse that by chance came thither At which wordes she seemed to make so greeuous complaints and indeed to be so sorrie that in the end she told them all that earely in the morning she was purposed to go to Dianas Temple to enquire of sage Felicia some newes of her husband Delius They were all well content that she should go and offered her all the fauour and helpe they could in her iourney but the intent therof was for no other end but to see Syrenus whom she knew assuredly to be there Wherefore with many thankes she remained verie glad that her determination had so good successe and so with hope of her future ioy she gaue some rest that night to her wearied bodie and felt in her heauie hart a touch of vnwoonted pleasure and content The end of the first booke The second Booke of Enamoured DIANA VNiust and lawlesse loue is of such force that to augment his crueltie it hath the helpe of all things in the world his enterprises being fauoured and maintained by those things which are of most might and valour but especially aided so much by Fortune and by her mutabilities as for bestowing his paines and torments abroad he needs no better friend nor furtherer All which is verified by Marcelius disgraces since Fortune wrought so hard a conceite in his betrothed Alcidas brest that she was forced to giue credite to such a suspicion that though most false she held for an assured or at least an apparant ground of his inconstancie whereof ensued the hating of her husband who loued her deerer then his owne life and who in any thing had neuer offended her Heereupon it may be gathered how strong and certaine a presumption ought to be to make a wise and discreete person giue faith and credite to it since this that had but a colour of certaintie was so farre indeede from the truth of the matter But now though Loue and Fortune so ill entreated Marcelius yet in one thing they highly pleasured him which was that Loue wounded Dianas hart and Fortune conducted him to the fountaine where he found her whereby they might go both togither to sage Felicias house and passe away his sorrowes with lesse annoy in her comfortable and delighfull companie But the time being come when the redde morning with her golden habite did ouercome the starres of the passed night and the birdes with their chirping noise gaue warning that day was come Enamoured Diana wearied with the long and tedious night rose vp to walke the path of her desired iourney and committing the charge of her flockes to the Shepherdesse Polyntia her friend she came out of her towne accompanied onely with her rurall Baggepipe the deceiuer of her sorrowes and with her scrippe stored with some fewe victuals She came downe from the side of a hill which ledde from the towne to a thicke woode where in the bottome of it she sat her downe vnderneath a rowe of greene Sicamours attending for Marcelius companie as she had promised the night before But in the meane time whilest he came not she began to tune her Baggepipe and to sing this song following AWake a little light of cleerest day With calme aspect with milde and gentle grace A poore soule to beguile in sorrowes plight Stretch out that light Apollo from thy face That ioies the desert Champians in decay And driest plants with life and secret might In this most pleasant wood that doth inuite To sweetest rest Tormented thou shalt see my brest With carefull greefe my heauie lot To see it selfe by him forgot Who for my scorne a thousand plaintes did waste The fault is Cupids taste Who giues and takes on purpose discontent Where he perceiues he may the more torment What beastes with mildnesse doe not complaints acquaint What stone by sighes is not to softnes wrought The which a wearied brest doth yeeld with paine What Tigres or what lions are not brought To ruth and pitie hearing a complaint Which hath almost vndone my soule in twaine But to Syrenus I recount in vaine My sorrowfull mishap Who doth as little care for that As furious windes in raging seas The teares that all to little ease The mariners with carefull hart doe shill For more they crie the more it rageth still Thy loue Syrenus was not fine and good Which in these fieldes to me thou didst once beare When as my errour might offend it so Remember Traitour what thou then didst sweare Neere to the riuer sitting in this wood What then doth now thy hardnes seeme to show Shall not a small obliuion long agoe Be helpt by extreme loue And such that shall be far aboue My passed hate and fault before Then since I cannot loue thee more Nor satisfie the same with greater heate For remedie my death I will intreate Liue yet in paine the which I feele at last For thee who mak'st my sorrowes lesse appeere Though more it hurtes my wretched soule I see Bicause to haue thy present figure heere Giues to her thought a sweete delight some tast Who paining for thy sake doth thinke on thee But bend thy hart a little vnto me Ardent in my request Thou seest I liue in paine opprest Sustain'd by this desire alone In all my life to heare but one No if thou wilt in that I most doe loue But from a man so fierce what shall I proue Tell me the fauours how canst thou requite In that time past Syrenus when thy hart Thou hadst more tender now in hardnes dead When Traitour for my cause with enuies smart A thousand Shepherdes thou didst kill outright O ioyfull time and life that I did leade The vale shall witnes and the pleasant meade Where I of Roses white And sweetest flowers with delight Braue garlands for thy head I had Compacted and sometimes did adde Only for thy content some of my haire Which greeuous thought my life doth now impaire Now free thou dost abhorre me in the end Who for thy sake her selfe in paine
consumes But yet take heede of Cupids fine deceates For that proud hart that ouermuch presumes From cruell loue his senses to defend The more he yeeldes the more to striue he sweates O that thou wert so wounded in his heates As now my selfe I see But euer it is vnto mee The best aduise no good to craue For whatsoeuer it would haue Though heauen and earth the more it doth importune It euer was denied by Loue and Fortune My song in pine I will no wise ingraue thee Nor hardned Oke but rather will commend thee Vnto the windes where they will tosse and waue thee And to the deafe and desart Champian send thee Bicause my torments of their hope depriued And memorie of them which makes me sorie May be forgot and neuer be reuiued Now that my life is lost and chiefest glorie The delicate voice and excellent graces of Diana surmounted farre the praises of the fairest and most skilfull Shepherdesses of her time And the quauers and fine conceits wherewith so sweetely she brake her voice and adorned her songs made her to be the more admired For they were so rare and singular that they rather seemed to be fetcht from some maiesticall court then knowen in the homely countrey The which ought not to be so much wondred at nor thought so strange since Loue is able to make the simplest Shepherds discourse of high and learned matters especially if it finde a liuely wit and spirit which in those pastorall cottages is seldome wanting But as the enamoured Shepherdesse was now ending her song about that time that the cleere Sunne began to lessen the shadowes of the high hils despised Marcelius taking his leaue of his pastorall lodging to come to the place where he had appointed to meete Diana came downe from the hill aboue at the foote whereof she was sitting to attende him whom when she had espied a far off she held her peace bicause he might not vnderstand the cause of her griefe When Marcelius was come to the place where Diana stayed for him he saide vnto her The cleere light of this day faire Shepherdesse which with the more resplendant beames of thy shining beautic did arise be as ioyfull and happie to thee as to me most sorrowfull if in thy good company I passe it not away Truely I am ashamed to see that my slownes hath made thee stay heere all alone so carefull for my comming but this is not the first fault that faire Diana thou must pardon me during the time that I shall conuerse with thee As that pardon should be vaine answered Diana where there is no fault so thou art not to be blamed for any such small care but rather the earnest desire that I had to rise so early and to come hither where I haue passed away the time in sundrie fancies and in thinking of the effects which belong to a troubled minde But here is no time nor place for vs to stay since the desire I haue to be at Dianas Temple is great though the way is very short as also for that the morning being somewhat fresh we may before the Sunne begins to powre downe his beames with greater heat begin to take our iourney the better to refresh our selues in the heate of the day to rest our wearied bodies When she had saide thus they both went on their way crossing ouer a thicke wood that was before them and for lightning of their iourney began to sing that which followeth Marcelius INconstant loue and cruell which hast lately Setled my happy thoughts my loue and fire In such a place so famous high and stately Where mortall mens desarts cannot aspire Well hast thou shew'd thy power By quailing of my sorrow To double it each hower And make my torments greater euen and morrow Thou mightst haue left my hart in former sadnes Bicause lesser harme it were to die with anguish Then to receiue a gladnes So full of paine And so by fits to languish Diana Thou must not thinke it strange and must not woonder That thus the mighty Boy of paine and pleasure After one small delight doth send a hunder Nay thousand paines and torments without measure For firme repose to any He yet did promise neuer But cruell deathes and many Sobs sighes and teares complaintes and chaines for euer The Lybian sandes and Aprils fairest flowers Passe not the greefes with which fierce loue doth murder Each harte and into showers Distraines the eies And yet proceedeth furder Marcelius Before that euer Loue my soule inflamed His slightes wherein he most of all abounded I knew right well wherewith mens harts he tamed And captiues made and after deepely wounded Our liues with great offences Not onely he annoieth But yet our wits and senses And soundest iudgements wholy he destroieth And so torments a soule and so encumbers That one poore ioy it hardly doth recouer So by ten thousand numbers Most greeuous thoughts surcharge a wretched louer Diana If Loues deceites and his dissembling proffers Wherewith he takes vs are so knowne and tried Why then presents the soule it selfe and offers So easily to be taken and applied If that the hart so tender The troubles intertaineth That Cupid doth engender Why after then laments it and complaineth Reason it were in loue he should be pained That to his dartes doth yeeld and is consenting With fetters to be chained For ill affoords vs nought but paines tormenting They sung this song and many more the which hauing ended they were nowe out of the wood and then they began to walke ouer a pleasant and flowrie meade which caused Diana to vse these words They are no doubt maruellous and strange things which the industrie of man hath inuented in populous and great cities but yet those which nature hath produced in the wide and solitarie fieldes are more to bee admired For who woulde not woonder at the liuely greene of this wood and not be amazed at the beautie of this goodly meadow For to beholde the diuersitie of coloured flowers and the pleasant melodie of chirping birdes is a thing so full of content and delight that the glorious pompe and wealth of the brauest and most famous Court is not comparable to it There is indeed said Marcelius in this pleasant solitude great store of content and ioy and namely for those that are free from passions of loue since they may lawfully and when they list enioy such rare sweetenes and abundant pleasures And I am certaine that if Loue which is now so much my mortal enimy remaining in these sequestred places had in the village where I was of late giuen me halfe the grief which now I feele my life durst neuer abide it since with such like delights I coulde not haue mitigated the crueltie of my torment To this Diana answered not a word but putting her snowe white hande before her eies and therewith supporting her golden head she staied a great while very sadde and pensiue and after
so much vnkinde That when all hopes forsake thee quite And comforts for thy troubled minde Then he may giue thee store of greefe And make despaire thy best releefe These and many other letters and songs he sent me the which if they had wrought their effect so much as my delight he might then perhaps in his owne conceit haue thought himselfe a happie man and I haue beene by this time an ill married wife But there was not any thing able to blot Montanus image out of my hart who apparantly also satisfied my will with like words and deeds We passed our liues away certaine yeeres in this ioy vntill we thought with holy marriage to accomplish our happie daies and rest And though Montanus would haue tolde his Father of it before to haue shewed the dutie of a good sonne yet he would not do it when I told him how hardly his Father would thinke of it by reason of the doting desire that he had to marrie me himselfe Hauing therefore greater respect to the contentment of his owne life then to the dutie he owed his Father without making him priuie we performed our vnluckie marriage Which was done by the consent of my Father in whose house there were great feastes made in solemnitie of it besides other pastimes as dancing plaies such great sports that the noise of them was bruted in all the countrey towns about Whereupon the louing old man vnderstanding his own son had deceiued him of his loue he became so incensed against vs both that he hated vs like death therfore would neuer after that see vs if he could otherwise choose On the other side there was a certaine Shepherdesse of that towne called Felisarda that died almost for the loue of Montanus whom in regard of his great loue to me and of her bad conditions and declining age he could neuer abide When she perceiued that Montanus had married me she had almost hanged her selfe for griefe so that by our vnfortunate marriage we got vs two mortall enimies The wretched old dotard because he would disinherit his sonne purposed to marrie a yoong and faire wench to haue had children by her But though he was rich yet did not any Shepherdesse of our towne loue him Felisarda onely excepted who bicause she thought by these meanes to enioy the dishonest loue of Montanus the which she bare yet fresh in memorie married with old Filenus And being now his wife she practised diuers waies to winne Montanus to her loue and especially by meanes of a maide she had called Sylueria sending him word that if he would condiscend to her will she would make an attonement betweene his Father and him offering him besides many great rewards gifts But she could neuer corrupt his minde nor peruert his chaste intent Seeing her selfe therefore so much contemned she began to beare such mortal hatred to Montanus that by and by she instigated his Father against him and not content with this wrought more ouer this vile piece of treacherie against him For she in such sort ouercame Syluerias minde with flatterie gifts good cheere and other fauours that she was content to do whatsoeuer she commanunded although it had beene to the preiudice of Montanus whom sometimes she respected greatly for that she had beene a long time seruant in his Fathers house Both of them agreede secretly togither vpon that they had to doe and vpon the hower of putting it in practise Whereupon Sylueria went out of her towne and comming to a forrest neere to the riuer Duerus where Montanus was feeding his sheepe she came to talke with him secretly as though she had beene troubled much in minde about the weightiest matter in the world saying Ah Montanus how wise wert thou in despising thy wicked Stepdames loue though I my selfe by her importunate request did what I could to bring thee to it But since I know what hath passed she shall neuer make me any more the messenger of her dishonest lusts I haue seene and know certaine things by her which touch thy Fathers credit and thine too neere and such that if thou knewest them though thy Father is so cruell to thee in such a case thou would'st not care to leese thy life for safegard of his honour I tell thee no more but this bicause I know thee to be so wise and discreete that I neede make no longer discourse vnto thee Montanus was amazed at these wordes suspecting by and by some dishonest tricke of his Stepmother But bicause he would be thorowly informed of the matter he prayed Sylueria to tell him all that she knew concerning that matter The more she was entreated the more she denied making it verie daintie and no lesse dangerous to discouer so secret a thing but in the end satisfying his request and her owne desire she told him a notable and cunning lye saying Bicause it is a thing that so greatly toucheth thy credit Filenus my Masters good name I will therefore tell thee truely what I know hoping that thou wilt tell none in the worlde that this secret treacherie was discouered by me Thou must therefore knowe that Felisarda thy stepmother is working a great disgrace against thy father with a certaine Shepherd whose name I will not tell thee bicause thou maiest heereafter knowe him if thou wilt for if thou wilt come this night and follow me where I will leade thee thou shalt finde the adulterer and the trayteresse togither in Filenus house for so they haue appointed bicause Filenus lieth this night at a Farme he hath by reason of some busines there cannot come home again before to morrow at noone Wherfore look wel about thee at eleuen of the clocke at night come to mee for I will bring thee in where thou maiest doe that which may turne to thine own credit thy fathers honor perhaps greatly to thine owne profit by obtaying pardon at thy fathers hands This tale Sylueria told so smoothly and with such cunning dissimulation that Montanus was resolued to put himselfe in the greatest danger to be reuenged of him who shoulde offer any dishonour to his father And so the vile and wicked Sylueria very glad that this deceit which Felisarda hatched had so good successe went home againe where she tolde Felisarda her Mistresse what was agreed on betweene Montanus and her Nowe had the darke night ouerspred the earth with her blacke mantell when Montanus being come to the village tooke a dagger with him which his vncle Palemon the Shepherd had giuen him and iust at eleuen of the clocke went to Filenus his fathers house where Sylueria was staying for him as she had appointed O wicked treason the like neuer seene nor heard of before Oh trayterous wickednes such as was neuer thought of before She tooke him by the hand and going very softly vp a paire of staires ledde him to the chamber doore where Filenus his father and Felisarda his stepdame were a bedde
togither and when she had set him there she saide vnto him Now thou art come to the place Montanus where thou must shew that thou hast courage and no abiect minde that is requisite in so good a cause goe into this chamber and there thou shalt finde thy mother a bed with the adulterer When she had saide so she ranne away as fast as euer she could Montanus being thus deluded with Syluerias falshood gaue credite to her words and in a furie plucking his dagger out of the sheath brake open the chamber doore with a thrust of his foote like a mad man with these loud exclamations rushed into it saying Here must thou die traytour by mine owne hands now shall the strumpet Felisardas foule loues helpe thee nothing at all And speaking these words he was so wroth that he knew not who he was that lay in the bedde and thinking to haue slaine the adulterer he lifted vp his arme to stabbe his Father as he lay a bedde But yet good Fortune awoke the old man who knowing his sonne by the light that was there thought verily that for the austere words vnkind disgraces which he had done him he came to kill him wherefore lifting himselfe quickly out of the bedde with holding vp his hands he saide O my sonne what crueltie is this that makes thee the butcher of thine owne Father For Gods sake remember thy selfe and spill nor nowe my innocent bloud nor ende my life before the appointed hower from aboue doth come For if I haue heeretofore vsed any rigour against thee heere vpon my knees I craue pardon for it with protestation that from hencefoorth I will entreate thee as louingly and gently as any father in the world may vse his sonne When Montanus perceiued the treacherie that was wrought and the danger that he had almost incurred by killing his owne Father he stoode there so astonished that his hart and arme so failed him whereby the dagger fell out of his hands and neuer felt it Being thus striken in a maze he could not vtter a worde but ashamed and confounded in his owne enterprise he went out of the chamber and out of the house wonderful sorrie for the treacherie that Sylueria had buzzed into his eares and for that which he had almost done but that his fortune was the better Feltsarda who knew all the matter before and how it would fall out when she saw Montanus come into the chamber she lept out of the bed and ranne into another inward chamber and locking the doore after her saued her selfe from her sonne in lawes furie But when she saw her selfe free from danger for now Montanus was gone out of the house shee came into the chamber againe where Filenus was yet shaking for feare and then she incensing the Father against the Sonne with loude vociferations began thus to say vnto him Now Filenus thou knowest well what kinde of Sonne thou hast and now canst tell if it be not true which I haue so often told thee of his wicked conditions and nature O cruell wretch O vile Traytour Montanus why doe not the heauens confound thee Why doth not the earth swallow thee vp Why do not the wilde beasts deuour thee Why do not men persecute thee to death Accursed be thy marriage thy disobedience thy loues and thy Ismenia that hath brought thee to this barbarous crueltie and to commit so horrible a sinne Traytour as thou art thou dost not punish Alanius who to thy shame and disgrace hath too familiar companie with thy Ismenia vsing her dishonestly and whom she loues more then thy selfe and carest not to kill thy owne Father who with tendernes of thy life and credit hath euer made account of thee Bicause he gaue thee good counsell would'st thou therefore kill him O woefull Father O vnfortunate gray haires O grieuous old age What fault didst thou euer commit that thine owne sonne should kill thee for it euen he whom thou hast begotten brought vp and for whom thou hast passed a thousand cares Plucke vp thy hart now leaue of thy fatherly loue giue place to iustice let him be duely punished for if he which perpetrated such wicked crueltie hath not his descrued punishment disobedient sonnes will not be afraide to do the like nor thine owne hereafter to murder thee once againe with his owne hands Old Filenus full of feare griefe and despite hearing the speech that his wife told him and considering his sonnes treason tooke so great displeasure at it that taking vp the dagger that Montanus had let fall early in the morning he went to the market place there assembling the chiefest men of the towne the Iustices togither after many teares and sobs said thus vnto them I inuoke God for witnes most worthie Shepherdes that the discourse which I must tell you torments my soule so much that I am afraide it will flye out of my bodie before I haue told it out Let not any therefore thinke me cruell or vnnatural by comming to publish my sonnes wickednes openly in this place since it is so strange and detestable that the greatest punishment that I am able to giue him is not sufficient for the enormitie thereof The which for that I am vnable my selfe to remedie it I will lay open before your eies that you may see how iust and needfull a thing it is to giue him condigne punishment and to forwarne all other sonnes by his grieuous example Needlesse it is to tell you with what tender loue and affection I haue brought him vp how carefully I haue kept him with what diligence I haue instructed him in commendable qualities what thoughts I haue suffered for him what good counsell I haue giuen him and how mildly I haue chastised him To my great griefe he married Ismenia and bicause I found fault with him for it in lieu of being reuenged of Alanius the Shepherd who as all the countrey knowes liues dishonestly with his wife Ismenia turned his anger towards me and this night would haue done me to death For this last night he found the meanes to get into the chamber where I was a bed with my wife Felisarda and with this naked dagger would haue killed me And had done it but that God did cut off his strength and abated it in such sort that being halfe astonished and afraide he went out from thence not able to put his damnable intent in practise leauing the dagger that fell out of his hands in the chamber This is the true report of that which this last night passed whereof you may be better informed by my louing wife But bicause I certainly know that my sonne Montanus would neuer haue committed so foule a deed against his Father if his wife Ismenia had not perswaded him to it I therefore beseech you all to consider well of this matter First that my sonne may be sufficiently punished for his wicked attempt and then that false Ismenia especially for the
without making any noise The reason was bicause she heard amongst those thicke trees certaine Shepherds singing By their voices they seemed to be Taurisus and Berardus both extremely tormented in pursute of her loue as it is saide before But bicause she would be more sure of it stealing on neerer vnto them betweene certaine bushes she was harkening to them to see if she knew them and she perceiued that they were the very same and that they had in their companie a faire yoong gentlewoman and a gallant and woorthie gentleman both which although they seemed to be somewhat troubled in minde and wearied by much trauell shewed neuerthelesse in their gesture and disposition notable tokens of valour and vertue After she had viewed who they were she went backe againe bicause she woulde not be seene And now was Marcelius and Ismenia come and all three togither began to sit them downe behinde certaine Hasels where they might not bee seene but where they might distinctly heare the Shepherds songs whose voices resounding ouer all the forrest made a singular sweete melodie as you shall heare in the Booke that followeth The end of the second Booke The third Booke of Enamoured DIANA THe treacherie and malice of an iniurious and enuying stepdame is commonly woont to enterprise so detestable acts that it would discourage the stoutest hart not onely to doe them but make it tremble to thinke of them And that which is worst is that Fortune is so great a friend in changing good and prosperous estates that she sheweth them all the fauour she may in their vniust attempts for she knoweth that most of them endeuour to stirre vp strange nouelties and mutinies and to be the occasion and meanes of much sorrow and trouble The crueltie of Felisarda was great when by her vile and suttle slightes she made the father so mortally abhorre his owne sonne and a husband to forsake his louing wife the one deceiued by an â—pparant shewe of loue and dutie misconstrued the other by a false report and with a vaine and simple suspect stinged but yet her happe was the better that brought her malicious and wicked purpose to that effect that she herselfe desired And I speake not this to make men thinke the woorse of all such kinde of women but bicause euerie one may liue aduisedly by taking good heed of such as Felisarda was which are but fewe I hope since so many of that noble sexe are the glorie of the worlde and the lanterns of life whose sinceritie faith discretion and vertues with golden verses deserue to be eternized For proofe whereof Diana and Ismenia may giue sufficient testimonie Shepherdesses adorned with singular beautie chastitie and wisedome whose histories do blazon foorth their infinite and woorthie praises In following the discourse whereof you must vnderstand that when Marcelius and they were sitting behinde the Hasels they heard that Taurisus and Berardus did sing as followeth Berardus THe coole fresh winde Taurisus that inuiting vs Amongst the trees the leaues is gently shaking Our sences ioying and with ease delighting vs The Cotes and Sicamours sweete shadowes making The Cristall fountaines that in copâ—ous swelling Doe flowe our thirst with sauourie liquours slaking The coloured flower whose sweete and fragrant smelling To banish melancholie greefes sufficeth Which makes the hart from sweet content rebelling His might that all despiseth Cannot subdue nor malice nor the brauerie Of that most cruell king whose sway doth wearie vs Whose punishment and slauerie Is absolute vniust and meere imperious For amorous greefes to hels of paines that ferrie vs No remedies haue yet beene salutiferous But still the poison fuming Infects my soule with torments most pestiferous Taurisus He that in loue is euermore consuming Is neuer glad for such an euill tires him Liuing in greefe in greefe his death resuming Loue giues him paines and most with torments fires him When most he seekes his pastime and his pleasure For then with furious thoughts he most inspires him Those few times when a soule entoies her treasure Greefe doth succeede in place whose balefull souenaunce Makes it returne to playning without measure Loue will enioy his couenants And whom he conquers kils or prisoner taketh He thinkes by him to get most famous glorie His prisoner now that quaketh He giuâ—… to Fortune with his Fortune sorie Or sels to greefe whom euermore it shaketh And paints in him her dire and tragicke storie And him that 's burning in his hottest fires He quite consumes the cruell he retires Berardus The whole man waxeth sicke as he intreates him He turnes each hart from former ioy to sadnes Still killing him that liuing is and threates him That is most free with bonds the scourge of gladnes Since then my soule thou knowest too well how cruell This Tyrant is be patient and content thee That such a place containes thy amorous fuell So high a place Take greefes and now present thee To all those harmes and paines he shall enure thee Enioy thine ill and in thy greefes maintaine thee Bicause by how much more thou shalt procure thee A meanes to rid thy selfe from that that paines thee The more thou shalt enwrap thee in his briers And shalt be furdest from thy cheefe desires Taurisus Loue findes in me so well disposed matter And such a minde to amplifie his glorie That mongst all those whose mournfull flockes doe scatter On both Hisperias plaines in loue so sorie My daily greefes are euer more augmented Salt showers of teares mine eies haue euer rained And more then wretched Biblis malcontented When turned to a fountaine she remained Strange is my good my paine is proper to me Faine would I see Dianas face but twenty And twenty deaths in seeing her vndoe me I die for want neere to the fount of plenty Her presence doth with paines and torments fill me Her absence doth with desperation kill me Berardus The woods doe murmur and the meadow smileth And iugging nightingales are sweetely singing But death to thousand woes my hope exileth Taurisus The blooming trees smell sweete that now are spinging The grasse growes greene with many a painted flower But I remaine O woe in sorrowes stinging Berardus My woes my wits haue slaine in such an hower That now I haue no power To say by hart ten verses all along Taurisus My toong doth cleaue euen in my very song Wherefore my friend prolong The time no more but sing that sweetest dittie Which interrupted with thy sighes of pitie And teares in euery citie And countrie towne so highly did commend thee Berardus Singing with thee it shall no whit offend me But ease and pleasure lend me Then answer me But now what shall I sing Taurisus Sing that that saieth The radiant star doth bring Or that Loues teares doe spring c. Or that I knowe not well how it doth say Which thou sung'st on a day Dauncing with faire Diana on a greene Berardus No Tigresse nor no lionesse haue beene But with compassion
mooued Of all my torments able to despaire one But not that cruell faire one The fierce deuouresse of my life approoued Taurisus The fierce deuouresse of my life approoued My peerelesse Shepherdesse As fell in hart as she is faire in face How then in such a case Can I escape O greefe but die without redresse Berardus Can I escape O greefe but die without redresse With deathes of racking passions But when I see Diana faire her sight my griefes asswageth Yet then my soule enrageth The more I haue to doe with loue the lesse I knowe his fashions Taurisus The more I haue to doe with loue the lesse I knowe his fashions His seruants he neglecteth And he that flying seeketh to escape his mortall chaine With thrise redoubled paine He wounds and with his furious plagues his wretched soule infecteth Berardus Faire Shepherdesse whose face the heauenly powers Haue graced with more beautie then the Roses And sweeter then the purple golden flowers That deckes our meades and virgins brestes with poses So may the heauens powre downe in copious plentie Vpon thy flockes their fauours most abounding And thy faire ewes with double twins not emptie In numbers swarme in profit still redounding That to my soule which my demerit pesters Thou wouldst not shew sterne lookes nor angrie gestures Taurisus Faire Shepher desse that with thy neighbour dwelling Dost cleere thy fieldes bedight with Daffodillies The driuen snowe in whitenesse far excelling In beautie Gilloflowres and stately lillies So prosper may thy fieldes in euery season In corne and fruit which thou maist taste at pleasure Thy peares and plums and apricocks so geason By handfuls maist thou pull in plentious measure That thou wouldst looke vpon thy swaine so sorie For of thy sight depends his cheefest glorie About this time the yoong Gentleman and Gentlewoman that were harkening to the Shepherds songs did cut them off and gaue them many thankes for the delight and recreation which with so sweete musicke they had giuen them And after this the Gentleman turning to the Gentlewoman said Didst thou euer sister in the magnificent and stately Cities heare musicke that pleased the eare and delighted the minde like this Truely saide she againe these pastorall and country songs being full of simplicitie and plainnes please me more then the delicate voices set togither with curious skill and full of newe inuentions and conceits in the braue pallaces of Kings and Princes And when I thinke this melodie to be better then that you must the rather beleeue it bicause I haue been present at the best musicke that in any Citie of the world or Kings Court was euer heard For in that happie time when Marcelius was a sutor to our sister Alcida he did some nights sing to the tune of his Lute so sweetely that if Orpheus made so solemne musicke I did not maruell then if the Birdes and Beastes did follow him and that he brought backe his deere wife Euridice from darke hell Ah Marcelius where art thou nowe Ah where art thou Alcida Ah most haplesse woman that I am how often doth Fortune surcharge my memorie with obiects of greefe when she sees me enioy the least content and pleasure in the worlde Marcelius heard the talke of the Gentleman and the Damosell which were with the Shepherds behinde the shrubs and bushes and when he perceiued that they named him and Alcida he began to bee somewhat altered He scarcely beleeued his owne eares and was doubting with himselfe whether it was another Marcelius and Alcida whom they named He rose vp by and by out of his place and to cleere himselfe of all doubt comming neerer he knewe that they were Polydorus and Clenarda brother and sister to Alcida Wherupon he ran suddenly to them and with open armes and abundance of teares somtimes embracing Polydorus sometimes Clenarda he stoode a great while before hee could speake for inward greefe Polydorus and Clenarda wondring at this noueltie could not coniecture what accident it was bicause Marcelius going in a Shepherds habite was vnknowne vnto them vntill his sobs and teares giuing him leaue he saide O deere brother and sister care not nowe for my ill fortune paste and to come since I am the happiest man in the world in seeing you Ah why is not Alcida in your companie Is she perhaps hidden in any part of this thicke woode O let me know some newes of her if you can tell me any to ease my cruell greefe and to satisfie my desire In speaking these wordes they knewe Marcelius and embracing him very affectionately and weeping for pleasure and greefe they saide vnto him O happie day O vnexpected ioy O deere brother of our soules what cruell Fortune hath bin the cause that thou dost not enioy the company of Alcida nor we her sight Why dost thou dissemble thy selfe with this new habite O cruell fortune in the end there is not full content of any good Diana and Ismenia on the other side seeing that Marcelius had so on the sudden gone to the place where the Shepherds did sing went after him and founde him talking with Polydorus and Clenarda as you haue heard When Taurisus and Berardus saw Diana the ioye that at so sweete and sudden a sight they tooke cannot be tolde And so Taurisus shewing a maruellous kinde of gladnes in his hart and words said vnto her This is no small fauour of fortune faire Diana to make her that continually flies our companie by vnexpected and happie chances to come so often where wee are That is not the cause of Fortune woorthie Shepherds saide Diana but rather bicause you are so excellent in singing playing on your instruments for there is no place of pleasure where you are not and where your sweete musicke songs are not heard But now since I am come hither though ignorant of your being heere and that the parching Sunne is now in the highest way I shall be very glad to passe away the heate of the daie in this pleasant place and in your good companie and though it standes me vpon to go quickly to Felicias pallace yet will I not thinke the time long to staie heere with you to take part of the coole and greene grasse and to harken to your delightfull musicke Prepare your selues therefore to sing and plaie and to all kinde of honest myrth for it will not become this place and braue assemblie to be without such kinde of pleasure And you Gentleman and faire Gentlewoman surcease your teares a while bicause you shall haue time enough heereafter to tell to each other your Fortunes and aduentures and to bewaile or reioice at the ill or good successe of them All of them liked well of Dianas speech and so they sat them downe vpon the fine greene grasse rounde about the Fountaine That was the pleasantest place in all the wood and more then any of those that were celebrated by the cleere Bagpipe of Neapolitan Syncerus in famous Parthenia There was in
the iniurie that she hath done thee hath brought thee hither vnto me which thou shalt finde to be as true as my mouth neuer accustomed to faine and lie hath plainly and sincerely told thee Thy sister Clenarda can make a large report vnto thee of all that hath passed about this matter harken to her and beleeue her words bicause I sweare vnto thee that all that she shall tell thee is most true Then Clenarda began to tell the whole matter how it hapned purging Marcelius and herselfe and reciting at large the treason and villany of Sartofano and all the rest as you haue heard before Which when Alcida heard she thought herselfe very well satisfied and then the long hatred which she bare to Marcelius went out of her hart with the deceit the onely occasion of it And then the smothered loue and hidden fire began to reuiue in her brest being cleerely ridde of her old suspicion as also by the operation of those charming words that Felicia made in her soule and being in that mind she said vnto Felicia Mine errour I acknowledge most honorable and sage Ladie and the great benefite that you haue done me by deliuering me from it But if I loue now Marcelius the miste of vniust suspect being driuen from mine eies and he being absent as he is indeed I shal neuer the more for this happines attaine to the top of that ioy which I hope for at thy hands but shall rather be afflicted with so great greefe of minde that to remedie the same I shall stand in neede of newe fauours at thy gracious handes It is a good token of loue answered Felicia againe to take thought for the absence of the beloued but let not this greeue thy minde for I will be carefull for thy contentment Now hath the Sunne hidden his beames and it is good time to take some rest Goe therefore with thy father and sister to repose thy selfe bicause we will to morrow take order for these affaires When she had thus said she went out of the garden and so did Eugerius and his daughters repayring to the chambers that Felicia had appointed for them in her pallace which were separated from that where Marcelius lay the rest of his company Don Felix Felismena with the other Shepherdes and Shepherdesses taried a pretie while about the fountain then went to supper appointing to meet there the next morning following one hower before day to take the fresh ayre of the morning So therfore as the hope of the pleasure of the next morrowes meeting made them passe away the night with sleeping but a little they rose vp all so earely in the morning that before the appointed hower they were ready at the fountaine with their tuned instruments Eugerius with his sonne and daughters aduertised of the musicke did also rise vp and went thither They beganne to play and sing and to make much sport and pastime by the light of the Moone which with a full and bright face gaue them as cleere light as if it had beene day Marcelius Diana and Ismenia laie in two chambers one ioyning to the other whose windowes looked into the garden And although they could not see the fountain thorow them by reason of the high thick Laurell trees which were about it yet might they heare well what they saide So therfore when Ismenia lying awake heard the noise they made and the merriment and songs of the Shepherds she awaked Diana and Diana knocking at the wall that was betweene both their chambers awoke Marcelius and so all of them went to their windowes where they were neither seene nor knowne Marcelius gaue attentiue care if he might perhaps heare Alcidas voice Diana did diligently listen to heare her Syrenus Ismenia onely had no hope to heare her Montanus bicause she knew not that he was there But yet her Fortune was better then she was aware of for at that very instant a Shepherd sung to the sound of his Baggepipe this Sextine that followes THe faire the fresh the red and rosie morning Doth follow still the long and tedious night And after darknes comes the sun shine day When Nymphes goe foorth to walke the freshest meades The aire resounding with their sweetest songs And cheerefull notes of many chirping birdes I am lesse happy then the pretie birdes That are saluting of the merrie morning With ratling foorth their sugred notes and songs For in the morne I mourne as in the night Be this a desart or most fragrant meade Be this a cloudie or most shining day In such a haplesse hower and dismall day So dead I was that neuer can these birdes Which in the dawning ioy both hill and meade Nor the Vermillion face of freshest morning Driue from my soule a darke and deadly night Nor from my brest a lamentable song My voice shall neuer change her woonted song And for my selfe it neuer will be day But I will first die in eternall night Though more and more doe sing the warbling birdes And fairer rise the bright and purple morning To shine vpon and cherish this faire meade O irkesome garden and O dolefull meade Since she that cannot heare my plaining song And with her beames of beautie staines the morning Doth not giue light vnto my needefull day O trouble me no more you prating birdes For without her your morning is but night In that time of the still and silent night When in the townes the hils the vales and meades All mortall men take rest the beastes and birdes I most of all doe force my greeuous song Making my teares euen with the night and day At noone at night and after in the morning One Morning onely conquere must my Night And if one Day illustrate shall this Meade Then will I heare with ioy the Songs of Birdes By this time Ismenia that was harkening at the window knew that he that did sing was her husband Montanus and tooke so great delight to heare him as greefe in hearing of that which he sung For she thought that the paine that hee saide in his song he was troubled with was for anothers sake and not for hers but she was by and by driuen out of this doubt for she heard him when he had made an end of his song giue a maruellous great sigh and saide Ah wearied and sorrowfull hart how ill didst thou abuse thy selfe and her in giuing credite to a simple surmise and how iustly dost thou now suffer the sorrow that thine owne lightnes hath procured Ah my beloued Ismenia how better had it bin for me that thy zealous loue had not caused thee to seeke me thorow the worlde bicause when I had come backe againe to our towne and knowing mine owne fault I might haue found thee in it Ah wicked Sylueria how ill didst thou requite him that euer did thee good from his cradle Alas I woulde haue thanked thee for the discouerie of the treacherie which afterwards thou toldest
light and glory of Spaine which name she saide did better fit it then the right name of it bicause in the mids of the infidelitie of Marsilius the Mahometicall king who had so many yeeres encompassed it with a cruell and continuall siege it did euer so strongly defend it selfe that it was alwaies the conquerour and neuer subdued and that it was called in the Portugall toong Montemor or Velho where the vertue valour wisedome and magnanimitie remained for trophees of the noble deedes that the Lords and Knights of it did in those daies and that the Lords and Ladies that now dwelt in it flourished in all kinde of vertues and commendable parts And so did the Shepherdesse tell her manie other things of the fertilitie of the foile of the antiquitie of the buildings of the riches of the inhabitants of the beautie discretion and vertues of the Nymphes Shepherdesses and of the aptnes and actiuitie of the iolly Shepherdes that dwelt about that impregnable castle All which things did put Felismena in great admiration But the Shepherdesses requesting her to eate somthing bicause they thought she needed it she thankfully accepted their curteous offer And whiles she was eating that which the Shepherdesses had set before her they sawe her shed so manie teares that caused no small sorrow in them both And desirous to aske her the cause of them they were hindred by the voice of a Shepherd that came sweetely singing to the tune of his Rebecke whom the Shepherdesses knewe to be the Shepherd Danteus for whom Armia pleaded so much to the gracious Duarda for pitie and pardon Who saide to Felismena Although these are but homely cates faire Shepherdesse and countrey Shepherdesses fare yet fals it out to be a dinner for a Princesse for thou didst but little thinke when thou cam'st hither to dine with musicke There is not any musicke in the world saide Felismena that pleaseth me better then thy sight and conuersation gracious Shepherdesse which by greater reason makes me thinke that I am a princesse then the musicke thou talkest of These words should be adressed said Duarda to one of more woorth and higher deserts then I am and that had a riper wit and deeper conceite to vnderstande them But howsoeuer I am to my poore abilitie thou shalt finde an earnest will an vnfained affection in me readie to do thee all the seruice it may Ah Duarda saide Armia to her how discreete art thou and how mightest thou not win the onely praise of wisedome if thou wert not cruell Is there any woman in the worlde like thee heerein who of purpose art offring occasions of impertinent speech and to busie thy head with other matters bicause thou hast no list to harken to the wofull Shepherd that by dolefull song is breathing out his sorrowes and mishaps Felismena vnderstanding what that Shepherd was by Armias wordes praied them to be still and to giue eare vnto him who to the tune of his Rebecke did in his owne toong sing this song following SIghes since you lighten not my hart Why go you not why stay you still For in the end hope doth impart Aremedie vnto mine ill Yet hope to helpe me neuer stood Where reason worketh all in vaine Nor euer promis'd so much good As crueltie doth giue me paine But loue and trust giue me an art And qualitie of such a skill That neither hope reuiues my hart Nor crueltie the same doth kill Mine eies you neede not then complaine With which her faire ones I haue seene And what neede you to feare againe Since viewed by her you haue beene And therefore change shall haue no part Nor entrance in my constant will Though crueltie doth kill my hart Or whether hope remaineth still The Shepherds musicke pleased Felismena better then the Shepherdesses meat for she thought the song was made to complaine more of his owne griefe then to lament an others And as he made an ende she said Shepherd it seemes thou hast truely learned by my ils to complaine of thine owne Vnfortunate woman that can neither heare nor see any thing which sets not before me the small reason I haue to desire life But yet God grant I may so long enioy it vntil mine eies may see the cause of their burning teares Thinkest thou faire Shepherdesse said Armia to her that these words deserue not to be heard and that the hart from whence they came forth to be more esteemed then this Shepherdesse regards them Talke not saide Duarda of his words talke of his works speake not of his dittie but of his deeds for by them his intent and meaning is to be iudged If thou dost enamour thy selfe of songs and delightest in Sonets compacted of industrie of fine and flattering words Thinke not that I do so for as they are things wherein I take least pleasure so by them I lesse perswade me of the loue he beares me Felismena then fauouring Duardas reason said Behold Armia how many ils might be auoided and great mischiefes not effected if we would not hearken to smooth filed speeches lightly credit words framed by free harts for by nothing else they shew their properties more then by a cunning and false tale vttered by an eloquent fine toong that when we thinke it most true there is nothing more false Vnhappie me that could not in time helpe my selfe with this counsell But by this time was the Porugall Shepherd come where the Shepherdesses were who in his owne language saide to Duarda If the teares of these eies and the sighes of this my hart are not sufficient Shepherdesse to mollifie that hardnes wherewith thou dost so ill intreate me I require nothing else but that my company may not be troublesome vnto thee in these fields and that the sorrowfull verses which my griefe makes me sing like to the dying swanne neere to this riuer may be no occasion of thy miscontent and trouble Passe away faire Shepherdesse the parching heate of the day vnder the shade of these greene Osiars for thy swaine will driue thy goates to the riuer to drinke and tarrie with them while they are washing themselues in the cristalline waters Kembe and adresse louely Shepherdesse thy silke soft haire vpon the brinke of this cleere fountaine from whence issueth out the running brook that round about watereth this sweete meadow And in the meane time I will carrie thy faire flocks to feed and keepe thy sheep from going into the corne that growes along the riuer side I pray thee sweet Shepherdesse take no care for anything for I haue no rest all the while that I am not trauelling about thy busines If this seemes to thee but a small token of loue tell me then wherein I may shew the good will entire affection that I beare thee For no especiall loue doth wrong to speake the truth in anything whereof it offers any experience at all Danteus hauing made an end the Shepherdesse Duarda